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THE
MONTHLY
CHRONICLE
OF
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND
568 ENGRA VINGS.
1889
Printed and Published for Proprietors of the " Newcastle Weekly Chronicle " by
WALTER SCOTT, NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNE,
AND 24 WARWICK LANE, PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON.
(no
Pago
Lord Armstrong. By Major Evan R. Jones ............ 1
Candyman. By R. Oliver Heslop ........................... 6
THE NORTH-COUNTRY GARLAND OF SONG.
Stokoe : —
By John
•'Whittingharn Fair," 7; "The De'il Stick the
Minister," 78; "Captain Bover,"135; "The
Quayside Shaver," 175; "The Outlandish
Knight." 198; "Bob Cranky's Adieu," 252;
"X. Y. Z. at Newcastle Races," 323; "Bin-,
norie, or the Cruel Sister," 374 ; "The Horrid
War i' Sangyet," 398; "The Fair Flower of
Northumberland," 462; " Newcaasel is My
Native Place," and "Bobby Nunn," 485;
" Sandgate Lassie's Lament for the Death of
Bobby Nunn," 486; "Christmas Day in the
Morning," 546.
Halton Castle .................................................. 8
Thirlwall Castle .................................................... 9
MKN OF MARK TWIXT TYNE AND TWEED. By
Richard Welford :—
Sir Henry Brabant, 10: the Rev. John Brand,
M.A., 11 ; George Brewis, the Rev. Wm,
Brewis, 13 ; John Trotter Brockett, 14 ; Sir
Robert Brandling, 66; Robert Brandling, 67;
Charles John Brandling, 68; .John Brown, D.D.,
122 ; Lancelot Brown, 124 ; Michael Bryan, 125 ;
John Bruce, 126 ; John Buddie, 162 ; William
Buhner, 164 ; Sir Thomas Burdon, 210 ; William
Burdon, 212; George Carleton, 213; Robert
Carey, Earl of Monmouth, 266 ; Rev. J. D.
Carlyle, B.D., 268; Rev. James Chadwick,
D.D., 269; George Carr, 306; Cuthbert Carr,
307 ; John Carr, the Rev. George Carr, 309 ;
William Carr, 310 ; Leonard Carr, 354 ; Ralph
Carr, 355; Ralph Carr-Ellison, 385; Sir Robert
Chambers, 387 ; William Chapman, 388 ; Henry
Chapman, 442: Edward Charlton, 443; Edward
Chicken, 445; John Clark, M.D., 506; Joseph
Clark. 507 ; Sir John Clavering. 509 ; James
Clavering, 509 ; Clayton, the Rev. Richard, 538 ;
Cock, William, 540 ; Ralph Cole and Sir Nicholas
Cole, 541.
The Sunderland Babbies ................................... 16
The Wreck of the Stanley.... 17
The Hedley Kow ................................................... 19
THE STREETS OF NEWCASTLE : —
Grey Street, 21 ; Grainger Street, 79 ; Blackett
Street and New Bridge Street, 102 ; Northum-
berland Street and its Offshoots, 158 ; Newgate
Street, 214 ; Gallowgate and Percy Street, 270 ;
The Side, 311 ; The Close, 350 ; St. Nicholas'
Churchyard and St. Nicholas' Square 399 ; The
Quayside, 453 ; Neville Street and Scotswood
Road. 510 ; Elswick Road District, 551.
Early Wars of Northumbria :— 26, 59, 106, 171, 227,
258, 298, 347, 414, 450, 490, 532
The Stote Manby Case ........ . 30
The Robin ............................................................ 31
Langdale Pikes ...................................................... 32
Wallace's Raids in Northumberland ......................... 34
The Sleuth or Blood Hound. By the late James
Clephan ................................................. 36
Our Roman Roads. By William Brockie ...... 38, 51, 114
A Gateshead Prodigy ............................................. 40
Allom's View of Durham ........................................ 40
King Arthur and Arthur's Hill ............................... 41
The Lion Bridge, Alnwick ...................................... 41
NOTES AND COJIMENTARIES :— pa,rc
Burying the Colours of a Regiment in Newcastle
— A Yorkshire Robberv and its Detection.. 42
The Margetts Mystery— The Inventor of the
Steam Plough— A Highwayman Tragedy . 90
ihe Greenhow and Martineau Families— The
Watchman's Rattle— Alnwick Corporation 138
Lieutenant Aclamson, R.N.— The Helm-Wind—
Pudding Chare— A Long Word 186
A Hartlepool Ginevra— St. Nicholas' Church and
the Scottish Prisoners— A Sunderland Hero-
General Monk in Newcastlt — Ridley Villas 235
John Barksby— The Nest on the Tomb— A Les-
bury Epitaph 282
Edward Jennings, V.C.— William Surtees^ a
Corbndge Veteran— Kirby Fight — Henry
Russell in Newcastle 330
Alderman Thomas Forster — Newcastle Pants —
.Mrs. Barrett Brownintr— Oalaly Castle 378
Head of the Side— The Biddick Pitman— The
Wedderstone 425
The Bell Tower at Morpeth— Algernon Charles
Swinburne— An Ancient Doorway— Starlings
at Alston— The Petting Stone at'Holy Island
-Barnum in Newcastle 474
A Northumbrian Bake-Stick— A Clown and his
Geese on the Tyne 522
Sir John Femvick— A Prince's Nurse — Charles
Avison, organist— The Side, Newcastle 570
North-Country Wit and Humour :— 42, 91 139 187 236
283, 331, 379, 427, 476, 523, 571
North-Country Obituaries :— 43, 92, 139, 188, 236, 283 331
3SO, 427, 477, 523, 572
Record of Events :— 45, 93, 140, 189, 237, 285, 332, 381,
423. 473, 524, 573
Extinct Wild Animals in the North 49
Ghosts at Tudhoe 52
Football in the North 54
Swallowship 55
Charles Dickens in the North . 57
The Uaudy Loup 63
Two Famous Waterfalls : Lodore and Colwith 64
Chollerford 71
Barnard Castle 74
Lartington 75 _
Cotherstone 76
Barnard Castle Tragedies 76
A Roxburghshire Poet. By Sir George Douglas, Bart. 79
The Miser of Ketton 84
A Cumberland Worthy : Mr. George Routledge 85
The House Sparrow and the Hedge Sparrow 86
Uncle Tob.y's Exhibition of Toys 87
The Academy of Arts 90
The Victoria Hall Disaster, Sunderland 97
Lottery Offices in Newcastle 101
Mr. Sims Reeves's Early Career 110
Middlesbrough New Town Hall, <tc 110
The Prince of Wales and the Chilling-ham Bull 113
A Fatal Balloon Ascent from Newcastle 117
Langley Castle 117
Chipchase Castle 119
BleaTarn 128
The Skylark 129
Garibaldi's Sword 130
Charms for Venom 132
The Delaval Papers 133
Whitton Tower, Rothbury 136
Rector Gray: A Sunderland Worthy 137
The Pitman of Biddick and the Earldom of Perth ... 145
A Chartist Spear 148
The Grand Duke Nicholas at Wallsend 150
The Reedwater Witches 151
11.
CONTENTS.
Page
Norham Castle 151
Thomas Sopwith 154
William Veitch, Covenanter and Farmer 155
Dinsdale Spa 157
Lambton Castle 161
Morpeth 166
Cost of Newcastle Mayoralty a Century Ap;o 174
Trinity House, Newcastle 176
Football at Chester-le-Street 180
The Cuckoo 181
A North-Country Mystery 181
"Canny" 183
Wastwater and The Screes 184
The Bewick Club ami its Founders 193
A Letter of the Poet of the Seasons 199
Cumberland and the Scottish Kings 199
Duddo Tower and Stones 200
Cartington Castle 201
.Scenes and Characters iu " Guy Mannering " 202
Miss or Mistress 205
Sir Bevis Buhner, Knight of tlie Golden Mine ..... 205
John Bright's Connection with the North 206
Kirkstall Abl>ey 209
The Coming ami Going of tlie Judges 222
The Rook and the Jackdaw 231
"Wandering Willie" 235
The Miller's Cottaffe, Ban-as Bridge. Newcastle 234
Mr. .lames K. Anderson in Newcastle 241
Marshall Wade's Koad 245
The Pardoned Mutineer 247
Kiver Police Station and Dead House, Newcastle 248
" The Quicks' Buring Has in Sidgate " 249
Freemen's Well Day at Alnwick 253
Wearmouth Bridge Lottery 254
Staward Peel and Dickey of Kingswood 255
Bothal Castle 257
Illustration!* of Kail way Development 262
Kn-suth's Visits to Newcastle 276
The Magpie 277
Crowd y 278
Gas Lighting in the North 279
AV'e.st Hartlepool 279
Sanctuary at Durliam Cathedral 289
Northern Sun Dials 292
John the Pieman : A Snnilerland Character 295
Calaly Castle, Northumberland 295
Help, the liailway Dog 297
The Wags of Durham 301
Mrs. Browning's Birthplace 303
The Threepwood Case 315
Leopold Martin's Recollections 318
Old Newcastle on the Tuthill Stairs 319
Lewis Thompson 322
The Chaffinch 324
St. Helen's Auckland Hall 325
Richard Ayre 326
Mercenaries in Northumberland 326
Ttie Roxbya and Beverleys 327
Aske Hall. Yorkshire 329
Thomas Wilson, Author of "The Pitman's Pay " 337
The Lumley Ghost Story 339
The Marquis of Londonderry 341
Hareshaw Linn 343
St. John's Church, Gateshead Fell 344
Norton Church 345
The Greenfinch 358
Bishop Butler at Stanhope 358
The Author of " The Tales of the Border " 363
Bull-Baiting in the North 365
The Salters' Track ... 366
Page
Ponteland Tower 367
Fox How, Arnbleside 368
Katy's Coffee House, Newcastle 369
The Muggleswiek Conspirators 370
Clifford, the Shepherd Lord 373
North-Country Sailors and Pompey's Pillar 375
Kepier Grammar School 375
Cross House, Westgate Road, Newcastle 377
Gibside and its Owners 390
The Village of Alnmouth 392
Racing in the Northern Counties 394
A Mysterious Mail Coach Robbery 402
The Chiff-Chaff 404
A Blind Scholar : Laurence Goodchild 405
Bear Baitine 406
The Castle Garth, Newcastle 406
St. Nicholas' Cathedral, Newcastle 408
J. W. Carmichael, Artist 412
Windy Monday 418
Robert Bolron, the Spy 420
Sir George Bowes, Defender of Barnard Castle 421
Durham University 422
Millet's "Angelus'1 432
Baron Brown, the Durham Poet 433
Newcastle Apprentices 435
The Cut-Purse Ordeal 439
St. Mary's Island, Northumberland 441
Thomas Dixon, Corkcutter 447
St. Giles's Church, Durham 448
Rob Roy in Northumberland 459
The Central Station Hotel, Newcastle 464
Mr. Walter Scott 464
Leprosy in the Northern Counties 465
Sherburn Hospital 468
The Swallow and the Swift 469
Christopher North at Klleray 471
Sir John Fenwick, Jacobite 481
Ralph Gardner, of Chirton 487
Rock Hall, Northumberland 490
The .Story of a BorderTrance 494
Ralph Waldo Emerson iu Newcastle 495
Old House at Hexliam 496
Haltwhistle Church 497
The Floating Island in Derwentwater .. ... 500
Blanchland 500
The House Martin and Sand Martin 514
The British Association in Newcastle 515
Willimoteswick Castle 517
The Sockburn Worm 518
Wmdermere Lake 521
The Luck of Edeuhall 529
Kepier Hospital, Durham 535
Bothal Village, Northumberland 537
Newcastle Jesters 543
Bolton-on-the-Aln 544
A Tyneside Hero ; 545
Captain Wiggins 547
North-Country Fairies 548
Football at Workington .. ... 550
The Pollard Worm 556
The Great Riot at Hexham, 1761 557
Mark Littlefair Howarth 559
Rydal Water and Rydal Mount 560
Fairy Pipes 561
Hermitage Castle 562
The Wagtails 564
"Tommy on the Bridge " 566
Sir Thomas Riddell and Sir John Lesley 566
Sir Daniel Gooch 568
PhiueasT. Barnum.... 569
Hermitage Castle (Frontispiece) Page
Armstrong Park, Heaton Section, Newcastle 1
Residence of Lord Armstrong, Jesmond 4
Banqueting HalL Jesmond Dene 5
Halton Castle 8
Thirlwall Castle . 9
Paee
J. T. Brokett's Book Plate 15
The Sunderland Babbies 16
The Wreck of the Stanley 17
Grey Street, Newcastle 24
Grey Street, Newcastle : Scene during the Snowstorm 25
CONTENTS.
ill.
Page
Maps, Arms and Defences of the Ancient Britons, &c. • —
27, 28, 29, 60, 61, 62, 107, 108, 471, 173, 228. 230, 259
260, 261, 298, 299, 349, 415, 416, 417, 451, 452, 491, 492,
493, 532, 533, 534
The Robin 32
Langdale and Langdale Pikes 32
View from the Top of Langdale Pikes 33
Allom's View of Durham 40
The Lion Bridge, Alnwick 41
Swallowship 56
Birthplace of Charles Dickens, Gad's Hill Place 57
The Falls of Lodore 64
Colwith Force 65
Chollerford, North Tyne 72
Barnard Castle, Lartington, and Cotherstone Church 73
Barnard Castle, from the Tees 75
Grainger Street, Newcastle 80
Butcher Market, Newcastle 81
Art Gallery, Newcastle 82
The House Sparrow and Hedge Sparrow 86, 87
Uncle Toby's Toy Exhibition 88
Academy of Arts. Newcastle 89
Victoria Hall, Sunderland : —
View from the Park, View from Laura Street,
Interior, the Fatal Door, Scene of the Catastrophe,
Two Sketches of the Memorial 97,93,99, 100
Richardson's Shop, Blackett Street, Newcastle 103
Eldqu Square, Newcastle 103
Carliol Tower, Newcastle 104
Public Library, Newcastle 105
Middlesbrough Town Hall and Municipal Buildings.. 112
The Prince of Wales and the Chillmgharn Bull 113
Langley Castle 120
Chipohase Castle 121
Blea Tarn 128
The Skylark 129
Whitton Tower 137
The Watchman's Rattle 138
A Chartist Spear 149
"ACraaFoot" 149
Norham Castle 152, 153
Singleton House. Newcastle 158
Blind Asylum, Newcastle 159
Dame Allan's School, Newcastle 159
St. Thomas's Church, Newcastle 160
Lambton Castle, Durham 161
Entrance to Morpeth Old Bridge 167
Old Mill by the Bridge at Morpeth 167
Morpeth Parish Church 168
Morpeth Market Place 169
Gateway of Morpeth Castle 170
Trinity House. Newcastle 176, 177
Museum, Trinity House, Newcastle 178
Chapel of Trinity House, Newcastle 179
The Cuckoo 181
Wastwater, Cumberland 184
The Screes, Wastwater 185
Memorial to Lieutenant Adamson 186
Duddo Tower and Stones 200
Cartington Castle 201
Dorothy Foster's Visiting Card 205
Kirkstall Abbey, near Leeds 209
Newgate, Newcastle, about 1400 214
Newgate in 1813 215
Demolition of Newgate, 1823 215
The Newgate, Newcastle, 1789 216
Groined Archway of Newgate, 1823 217
Demolition of South Transept, St. Andrew's Church 218
St. Andrew's Church, Newcastle 219
The Black Horse, Neweate Street, Newcastle 220
Scotch Arms, Newcastle, 1843 221
The Toll Booth, Gateshead 223
The Old Moot Hall 224
Sheriff's Procession to meet the Judges 225
Tynemouth Castle 228
Lmdisfarne Abbey 228
Whitby Abbey 230
The Rook and the Jackdaw 232
Wandering Willie 233
The Miller's Cottage, Barras Bridge, Newcastle 234
Old Windmill, near Walker-ou-Tyne 237
River Police Station, Newcastle 248
The Quicks' Burying Ground, Newcastle 249
Staward Peel " 256
Bothal Castle, Northumberland !!!!!"!!!"" 257
Rains of Monastery at Jarrow 259
A Chmle ....... 260
Swords and Axe-head.... 261
Puffing Billy, 1813 .."".I"."""'.'.". 262
Stephenson's Engine, 1815 262
Stephenson's Engine, "Rocket" 263
Chat Moss, showing Stephenson's line ""'.'. 263
Opening of Stockton and Darlington Railway. 264
The Rainhill Competition, 1829 : The " Rocket" First 265
Gallowgate, from Percy Street, Newcastle 272
Darn Crook, Newcastle 272
Old Houses in Percy Street, Newcastle 273
Corner in Percy Street. Newcastle ....'.'... 273
Gallowgate Hopping, Newcastle 274
The Mairpie 277
New Municipal Buildings, West Hartlepool 280
Stranton Church, West Hartlepool 281
Church Street, West Hartlepool 281
The Nest on the Tomb, Jesmoud Cemetery 282
Sanctuary Knocker, Durham " 239
Sun Diai at Haydon Bridge 293
Seven Dials 294
Calaly Castle, Northumberland 296
Help, the Hail way Dog 297
Coxhoe Hall, Durham 304
Long Walk, and The Avenue, Coxhoe 305
Head of the Side, Newcastle, 1876 312
The Side, Newcastle 313
Gale Cross, near the Sandhill, Newcastle 314
Sweeper's Entry, Close, Newcastle 319
Panelled Chamber, Tuthill Stairs, Newcastle 319
Elizabethan Mansion ou Tutl.ill Stairs 320
West Entrance to Panelled Chamber 321
ChalHnch 324
St. Helen's Auckland Hall, Durham 325
Aske Hall, Yorkshire 329
Fletcher's Entry, Groat Market, Newcastle 333
St. Michael and All Angels' Church, Newcastle 335
Fell House. Residence of Thomas Wilson 337
Hareshaw Linn 343
St. John's Church, Gateshead Fell 344
Norton Church 345
Effigy in Norton Church 347
Part of Earl's Inn, Newcastle, 1846 351
The Yellow Doors Tavern, Close, Newcastle 352
Close Gate, Newcastle, 1826 ... 353
The Water Tower, Close, Newcastle, 1346 353
The Greenfinch 358
Latin Inscription in the Rectory House of Stanhope... 359
Stanhope, Weardaie 360
Stanhope Church 361
Stone Bridge over the Wear, Stanhope 362
Ponteland Tower 367
Fox How, Ambleside 368
Katy's Coffee House, Newcastle 369
Kepier Grammar School, Houghton-Ie-Spring 376
Cross House, Westgate Road, Newcastle 377
Gibside Hall, Chapel, and Banqueting Hall 392
Alnmouth 393
St. Nicholas' Church, Newcastle 400
Union Bank, St. Nicholas' Square, Newcastle 401
Old House in St. Nicholas' Square, Newcastle 401
TheChiff-Chaff 405
The Castle Garth, Newcastle 408
St. Nicholas' Cathedral, Newcastle 409
Cover of Font, St. Nicholas' Church 410
Pew Standards, St. Nicholas' Church 411
Brinkburn Priory 415
The King's Cairn, Dunmail Raise, Cumberland 417
Procession of Boats on the Wear, Durham 424
Garden Party in the Castle Grounds, Durham 425
Millet's " Angelus" 432
The Cut-Purse Ordeal 440
St. Mary's Island, Northumberland 441
Three Tuns Inn, White Cross, Newcastle 446
Autograph of Edward Chicken 446
Residence of Thomas Dixou, Sunderland 448
IV.
CONTENTS.
Page
St. Giles's Church, Durham 449
The High Crane, Quayside, Newcastle 4bA
Grinding Chare, Quayside, Newcastle 454
Quayside, Newcastle 454
Hornsby's Chare. Newcastle 455
Grain Warehouse, Quayside, Newcastle 4bb
Hi(?h Dykes Tavern, Broad Chare, Newcastle 456
Old House in Broad Chare, Newcastle 457
House Where Lord Eldon was Born 458
The Glasshouse Bridee, Newcastle 458
The Central Station Hotel, Newcastle 464
Sherburn Hospital 465
Sherburn Hospital Gateway 468
Chimney Swallow 470
The Swift J/0
Christopher North's Cottage at EUeray 473
Ancient Doorway, Mowhray Park, Sunderland 475
Monument to Thomas Thompson 478
Ralph Gardner's House at Chirton 488
Rock Hall, Northumberland 489
Old House at Hi-xham 49°
Haltwhistl.- Cli.ir.-l. 497
Views of Blanchland 501-2-3-4-5
Pace
Central Railway Station, Newcastle 512
Elswick Works, Newcastle 513
House Martin and Sand Martin 514, 515
Willimoteswick Castle 517
Windermere Lake (two views) 520, 521
A Northumbrian Bake Stick 522
Elephant Rock, Hartlepool -. 526
Eden Hall 529
Fairy Well, Eden Hall 531
Luck of Eden Hall 531
York Castle 533
The Conqueror at the Seige of York 534
Kepier Hospital, Durham , 536
Botlial Village 537
Bolton on the Aln 544
Sea Fight off Yarmouth 545
Elswick Lane : Entrance to Elswick Park 552
Elswick Hall and Park 553
Elswick Cemetery 555
Rydal Mount 560
Weardale Fairy Pipe 561
The Wagtails 565, 566
The Side, Newcastle 571
Lord Armstrong •?
John Brand -^
Georgs llrcuis 13
John Trotter Brockets 14
Thomas Gray *J
George Dodds 44
Joseph Baxt-r Ellis 45
Thomas Kiclianlx>n 45
William Sut'.on 45
John Lucas 46
Mrs. Ashton Dilke 47
Arthur Nio.ls 48
Charles John Brandling 69
Joseph Barlow 83
George lioutl'-.l:;>- 85
T. Humphry \Var.l 96
Kims Rce-.es 110
William Fallows Ill
Raylton DIM in 112
G. Gordon l!o-.kins 112
Dr. John Brown 1^2
Lancelot (" Capability") Brown 124
Michael Bryan 126
John Bruce 127
Rev. Robert G ivy. M.A., Rector of Sunderland 137
John Augustus O'Shea 142
Professor John Stuart Blackie 143
Henry BlackUrn 143
Archduke Rudolph, Crown Prince of Austria 144
Major le Caron ..... 144
Thomas Sopwi th 154
John Buddie 162
William Buhner 164
Dadabhai Naoroji 189
King Milan of Servia 192
Richard Pigott 192
H. H. Emmerson 193
Robert Jobling 195
JohnSurtees 195
Ralph Hedley 196
Thomas Dickinson 197
John Bright 208
Sir Thomas Burdon 211
Bishop Carleton 213
Samuel Carter Hall 240
Duchess of Cambridge v 240
James R. Anderson in 1846 and 1886 241
Mr. Anderson as Ulric, 1838 242
Mr. Anderson as Macbeth, 1871 244
Robert Carey, Earl of Monmouth 266
Bishop Chad wick 269
Louis Kossuth 276
Prince Albert Victor 279
William Gray 280
Georpfe Pynian 230
John Barkslry 282
R. S. Newall, J.P 283
Henry George 285
James Craig 287
Carl Rosa 288
John the Pieman, a Sunderland Character 295
Hut. Aklerson, Bellman of Durham 301
Elizabeth Barrett Browning 304
Rev. George Carr 309
Leopold Charles Martin 318
Lewis Thompson 322
Richard Ayre 326
William Roxby Beverley 328
Edward Jennings, V.C 330
Thomas Wilson, author of "The Pitman's Pay " 337
The Marquis of Londonderry 342
Bishop Butler 360
John Mackay Wilson 363
Bernard Gilpin 375
Benjamin Piummer, J.P 380
J. K. Smith 380
Sir Jacob Wilson 383
l\alph Carr-Ellison 385
William Chapman 389
Laurance Goodchild 405
J. W. Carmichael 412
Dr. Lake, Dean of Durham 426
William Drummond 426
The Shah of Persia 429
Baron Brown, the Durham Poet 433
Dr. Edward Charlton 444
Thomas Dixon, Cork-cutter 447
Walter Scott 464
John Wilson : Christopher North 472
Joseph Clark 507
Professor W. H. Flower 516
Sir Isaac Lowthian Bell, Bart 516
Professor J. S. Burdon-Sandersou 517
The Marquis of Londonderry 525
Arthur Brogden 527
Wilkie Collins 528
Eliza Cook 528
Rev. Richard Clayton, M. A. 539
Rev. Robert Wasney 539
Captain Wiggins 547
Mark Littlefair Howarth 559
William Wordsworth 561
" Tommy on the Bridge '.' (Thomas Ferns) 566
Sir Daniel Gooch 568
PhineasT. Barnum 569
SirJohnFenwick 570
Charles Avison, Organist 570
Charles Marvin ., 573
Gbronicle
OF
NORTH-COUNTRY+LORE*AND*LEGEND
VOL. III.— No. 23.
JANUARY, 1889.
PRICE GD.
ilurtr
(Coan Jtotolani)
AUTHOR OF "LIFE AND SPEECHES OF JOSEPH COWEN," "HEROES OF INDUSTRY," &c.
j|HE fond hopes and "best laid schemes" of
parents have oft been frustrated by the
tyrant voice of genius. Honour and obedi-
ence to beloved guardians are commend-
able and to be cherished. But the human soul and
intellect cannot be formed and fashioned like the pot-
ter's clay. We may not change the colour of the iris,
the character of the voice, our form and stature : much
less the Divine essence — the soul and its stock-in-trade
within us. Ben Jonson had a trowel in his hand for
long, a book in his pocket and volumes in his brains the
while. Davy ignored his indentures to the apothecary to
search the hills for minerals and dream of future renown.
Linnaius was intended for the Church ; but he neglected
SCENE IN ARMSTRONG PARK, HEATON SECTION, NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNE.
2
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
I January
theology, obeyed the still small voice, and became the
immortal founder of botany. Faraday obtained food for
his craving genius from the books he stitched, responded
to the inward monitor's call, and held "aloft among the
nations the scientific name of England for a period of
forty years." The generous offer of a friend and the
solicitous guidance of parents made William George
Armstrong a lawyer. He locked himself up amid parch-
ment rolls and tomes of decisions and authorities, gave
his undivided heart to the pursuit of science, and made
a column of water lift a hundred tons !
Children are not necessarily the best judges of that for
which they are best intended. They frequently make a
wrong selection under the influence of surroundings not
intended to give them the bias. In maturity they often
abandon their first love. Many boys are without pre-
ference ; they continue indifferent to every vocation from
the village green to the end of life. This was not the
case with the boy William George Armstrong. Me-
chanics were to him a passion from childhood, and physi-
cal science absorbed his hours of relaxation as a schoolboy
and as a student at law. His father was the son of a
Cumberland yeoman, who became a corn merchant, an
alderman, and a mayor of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, while
his mother was a daughter of William Potter, of Walbottle
House, Northumberland. To this worthy couple, a son,
afterwards the famous engineer, was born on Nov. 26,
1810, at Pleasant Row, Shieldfield, Newcastle.*
William entered the Bishop Auckland Grammar School
in 1826, where he remained for several years. During
his residence at Bishop Auckland, he gratified his me-
chanical ingenuity at the works of Mr. Ramshaw. He
was invited to that gentleman's home, where he found
"a help-meet for him." Aye, and one who, during a
busy, eventful, and brilliant career, has seconded his best
efforts and cheered his anxious moments. She shares
to-day his noble fame. Upon leaving school young Arm-
strong entered the law office of Mr. Armorer Donkin, an
intimate friend of the family, and a man of influence and
position in the cemmunity. His legal curriculum was
finished at the office of his brother-in-law, Mr. W. H.
Watson, the late Baron Watson, then a special pleader in
the Temple. In 1833 he returned to his native town to
become a partner with Messrs. Donkin, Stable, and
Armstrong.
Mr. Armstrong was not an orthodox English sports-
man. Though fond of music, the cry of the hound failed
to charm his senses. Fishing was his favourite sport.
He imbibed the taste from his father. Even in this pas-
time his inventive genius found employment. A new bait
basket was contrived, whereby the minnow was kept at a
lower temperature; his tackle was continually under-
going improvement ; and he became one of the most ac-
complished fishers on the Coquet. It was during an out-
* For view of birthplace tee IfmtUy Chronicle, voL L, p. 286.
ing through the Craven district of Yorkshire in quest
of trout that the idea which culminated in his fame first
came to him. He was rambling through Dent Dale, in
1836, when his attention was arrested by an overshot
water-wheel turned by a gurgling rill. The mill-wheel
supplied the power for some marble works at the foot of
the declivity. Twenty feet only of several hundred feet
descent was utilised ; the rest remained unproductive.
The possibility of the stream as a motive power at once
engrossed Mr. Armstrong's thoughts. Intuition took
the hint. For ten years he thought and wrought Jo
perfect and realise his idea. Now the freights of nations
are swung by his crane, and his hydraulic machinery is
found on every mart of commerce in the civilized world.
But the time during which he was harnessed to the
legal profession was in truth a period of apprenticeship
in constructive mechanics. Scarcely a day passed when
Mr. Armstrong was at home that he did not spend
several hours at Watson's High Bridge Works, either
superintending his own models or watching the construc-
tion of scientific machinery. It was a severe struggle be-
tween a sense of duty to his partners and profession on the
one hand, and innate genius on the other ; and the young
solicitor kept swinging like an erratic pendulum between
the law office and the lathe. The first attempt of Mr.
Armstrong to realise his ambition to convert a column of
water into a motive power was by means of an automatic
hydraulic wheel, acted upon by discs made to enter a
curved tube at the radius of the wheel-edge. It was an
ingenious contrivance, and its utility was tested at the
Skinner Burn. This was admirable experience, and a
valuable lesson ; but the wheel failed to realise the in-
ventor's expectations.
Soon after this time a sensation was produced in the
scientific world by a phenomenon which transpired at one
of the Seaton Delaval Collieries. The workmen declared
that something "uncanny like" was seen at the engine
boiler, and when they adjusted the safety-valve while
steam was blowing off, fire was said to reach out towards
their finger-tips. Tyneside philosophers, and subse-
quently men of science throughout the country, became
interested in the mystery ; and it was discovered that
electricity was evolved under the following circumstances :
The boiler was found to be insulated upon a dry seating,
and the friction produced by the escape of particles of
water blowing away with high-pressure steam produced
electricity, and a nervous shock was experienced when
the hand was held in proximity to the escaping steam.
Experiments bearing upon the generation of electricity
by high-pressure steam were commenced by a number of
scientific men ; but the lawyer distanced the philosophers
in the measure of success attained. Numerous tests were
made as to the best material for insulation and the best
form and lining for the exit of steam. At last the
hydro-electric machine was produced at the works of
Messrs. Watson and Lambert, Carliol Square. Large
January
I
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
numbers of this celebrated machine were constructed — for
the Polytechnic Institution of London, for Professor
Faraday, and for the scientific institutions of Europe and
America,
When the invention had been completed, Mr. Arm-
strong returned to his favourite study, and continued to
make experiments to perfect his hydraulic machine : at
last he succeeded. A fortunate circumstance materially
assisted in bringing it under public notice and into prac-
LOBD ABMSTRONO.
tical use. In 1845, Mr. Armstrong became associated in
his legal capacity with a company organised to supply the
towns of Newcastle and Gateshead with water. When
the company was formed, Mr. Armstrong delivered a
lecture at the Literary Society of Newcastle, and demon-
strated the utility of his invention by a working model.
Soon thereafter a few friends joined with him to erect a
crane on Newcastle Quay, where its usefulness could be
put to the test in loading and discharging ships. Three
more cranes were eventually ordered by the Corporation
of Newcastle. A somewhat interesting circumstance,
which tended to forward the popularity of the hydraulic
crane, took place at this time. Let the inventor himself
relate it : —
Amongst others the late Sir William Cubitt (then Mr.
Cubitt) took a very early interest in the machine, and
wrote to Mr. Jesse Hartley, who was then the engineer
of the Liverpool Docks, urginghim to go and see it, but
that somewhat eccentric gen-
tleman, who was very averse
to novelties, at first flatly
refused to do so. A second
letter from Sir William Cubitt
put the matter in such a light
that Mr. Hartley could not
persist in hia refusal without
incurring the imputation of
shutting his eyes to improve-
ments ; so without giving any
notice of his intention he went
to Newcastle alone to see the
crane. It was not at work
when he arrived, but the man
in charge was there, and Mr.
Hartley entered into a banter-
ing conversation with him.
This man, who went by the
name of '* Hydraulic Jack,"
had acquired great dexterity
in the management of the ma-
chine, and being put upon his
"mettle" by Mr. Hartley's in-
credulous observations, he pro-
ceeded to show its action by a
daring treatment of a hogshead
of sugar. He began by run-
ning it up with great velocity
to the head of the jib, and then
letting it as rapidly descend,
but by gradually reducing its
speed as it neared the ground
he stopped it softly before it
quite touched the pavement.
He next swung it round to the
opposite side of the circle, con-
tinuing to lift and lower with
great rapidity while the jib was
in motion, and, in short, he
exhibited the machine to such
advantage that Mr. Hartley's
prejudices were vanquished.
Mr. Hartley, who will be re-
membered as a man whose odd
ways were combined with a
frank and generous disposi-
tion, displayed no feeling of
discomfiture, but at once called
upon the author, whom he la-
conically addressed in the fol-
lowing words : *' I am Jesse
Hartley, of Liverpool, and I
have seen your crane. It is
the very thing I want, and
I shall recommend its adop-
tion at the Albert Dock."
With scarcely another word he bade adieu, and returned
to Liverpool. This anecdote marks an epoch in the his-
tory of hydraulic cranes, which then passed from the stage
of experiment to that of assured adoption.
The triumph of the invention and the fame of the in-
ventor were now established ; and in 1847-8 the Elswick
Works, intended for the construction of hydraulic ma-
chinery, were founded by Mr. Armstrong and his old
friend and partner Mr. Alderman Donkin, Mr. Alderman
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
\
January
Potter, Mr. George Cruddas, and Mr. Richard Lambert.
From this beginning the famous works of Sir William
Armstrong and Partners have developed.
Mr. Armstrong had no part in the international jumble
out of which the Crimean War was begotten. But when
the appeal to arms was made, he was sufficiently human,
and enough of a patriot, to wish success to British arms.
He watched the movements of troops, the formation of
lines, the approaches and means of defence with the
anxiety of an Englishman, but from the plane of science.
Difficulty was experienced at Inkerman in bringing up
heavy artillery. Two eighteen-pounders were finally got
into position ; they contributed largely to turn the tide of
battle, and gain the doubtful day. " Why cannot lighter
guns obtain a greater range ? " That was the question
which occurred to Mr. Armstrong. And he grasped this
proposition with all that strength and continuity which
characterise him. Inkerman was fought in November,
1854. Within a month he had solved the problem,
convinced the War Secretary, and commenced the
gun. The arrow in its flight tirst suggested the best
for rifled ordnance. A Committee of the House of
Commons, reporting upon the whole question, said : —
Mr. Armstrong proposed » method of constructing a
gun which rendered it capable of enduring the strain to
which rifled ordnance is submitted. This method was
certainly at that time the only one capable of fulfilling
that condition ; and your Committee have had no
practical evidence before them that even at this mo-
ment any other method of constructing rifled ordnance
exists which can be compared with that of Mr. Arm-
strong. In combination with his system of constructing
or manufacturing a gun, Mr. Armstrong had introduced
to the notice of the Government a plan of breechloadinsr,
the gun being rifled on the old polygroove system, which
involved the coating of the projectile with soft metal.
This combination of construction, breechloading, rifling,
and coating the projectiles with soft metal, came to be
termed the Armstrong system. The range and precision
of the gun were so vastly superior to all field ordnance
known at the time, that, after careful and repeated trials,
the Committee appointed to investigate the question
recommended its adoption as the field gun of the
service. ,
The Adjutant-General of Artillery pronounced the
Armstrong field gun the best then known— that also-
being " the opinion of officers of Artillery of all classes.'
The success of the gun was conclusive, the result of the
form of projectile. But material of construction and its
application, the mode and method of rifling, loading,
and of exploding shells — all the questions involved in
gunnery had to be thought out anew and by a single
mind. Experimental guns were constructed, and trials
were made at early hours and in out of the way places, on
the moors at Allenheads and by the sea-shore. At last,
in the spring of 1856, the Armstrong gun was ready for
official scrutiny. The first gun submitted to the Govern-
ment was a three-pounder. A five-pounder was next
made for further examination ; it was adopted. Heavier
cannon, to be constructed on the Armstrong principle,
were required at once. The Rifled Cannon Committee
tested the capabilities of the (run to the uttermost, and
recommended it as combining the best known elements
struggle was most gratifying to Mr. Armstrong, and
fortune was at his feet. But he rose to a sublime height,
and gave the fruit of his genius, his toils of years, his
hope of reward and renown, without fee or consideration,
to his country. The nation applauded the deed of
patriotism. The Queen conferred upon him the dignity
of Knighthood and Commander of the Bath. His
services were found imperative for the construction of the
gun ; and he was made Engineer of Rifled Ordnance,
with a salary of £2,000 a year, and, later, Superintendent
of the Gun Factory. The Government required that
guns should be constructed with secrecy and despatch.
Woolwich was entirely unprepared for such work, and an
arrangement was made whereby the Armstrong guns
should be made at Elswick. Lord Derby's Government
January I
1889. f
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
made the contract. Under its provisions the Elswick
Ordnance Company were obliged to provide all the works
and machinery for making the ordnance required, and
confine them entirely to the execution of Government
orders. Should the works be kept idle through want of
orders from the Department for War, the company was
to receive compensation, to be assessed by the Attorney
General. This arrangement continued until the spring of
1863, when Sir William resigned his appointment, and
the contract between the Government and the Elswick
Company was cancelled by mutual consent.
But few of the original features of the Armstrong gun
are maintained in the ordnance now made by the in-
ventor. The coil formation, the rifling, and the breech-
loading when desired, are adhered to. And in view of
the results of the trials at Spezzia, it is only fair to add
that the gun still holds the supremacy. But the original
little three-pounder, which two men could carry, has
grown into a one hundred ton wire gun, the most
destructive weapon upon earth.
From modest beginnings the Elswick Works have
gone on increasing and extending until now they cover
about seventy acres of ground, and afford employment
to 12,000 contented men. Towards the end of 1882,
they were joined to the well-known shipbuilding works
of Charles Mitchell and Co., of Low Walker, under
the corporate name of Sir William George Armstrong,
Mitchell, and Co., Limited. The position for their
enterprise is admirable : their capabilities for build-
ing and mounting war vessels — arising out of a remark-
able combination of genius, skill, workmanship, hydraulic
contrivances to make and handle ordnance, and work the
guns when mounted— are certainly unsurpassed. When
the new company's stock was placed upon the market, the
applications exceeded the shares to be issued fourfold.
Although he had been frequently invited to associate
himself in some direct manner with the management of
the public affairs of his native town, Sir William Arm-
strong only once solicited the suffrages of his fellow-
citizens. And then his services were declined. A grave
crisis had arisen in 1886. Mr. Gladstone, having pro-
duced a Home Rule Bill for Ireland which had failed to
secure the support of a large section of the Liberal party,
was defeated in Parliament. Then followed a general
election. Sir William Armstrong was a Liberal ; but he
dissented from the Irish policy of Mr. Gladstone. Re-
quested to come forward as a candidate on Unionist
principles for one of the two seats for Newcastle, he
agreed to stand, with Sir Matthew White Ridley as his
colleague. Mr. John Morley and Mr. James Craig,
Gladstonian Liberals, were, however, returned. It was
Sir William Armstrong's first and last contest in New-
castle. But though excluded from the House of Com-
mons, he was offered a seat in the House of Lords. This
offer, made in 1887, was accepted. Elevated to the
peerage as Baron Armstrong of Cragside, he was hon-
oured by the Government of the day with the duty of
seconding the Address in reply to the Speech from the
Throne. It goes without saying that he discharged this
function with dignity and credit
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
( January
I 18»9.
Lord Armstrong has ever taken a deep interest in pub-
lic institutions and affairs. It was through him that a
committee was appointed by the Government to report
upon the coal measures of Great Britain. He has actively
participated in the deliberations, and is a past president
of the British Association, the Institute of Mechanical
Engineers, the Institute of Civil Engineers, and kindred
societies. The Literary and Philosophical Society of
Newcastle is indebted to Lord Armstrong, its president,
for more than his bountiful hand and wise supervision.
His lectures from its platform have added to the high
position it occupies among the societies of England. In
1844 he addressed the members upon hydro-electricity.
During the next session he delivered three lectures on
" The Employment of a Column of Water as a Motive
Power for Propelling Machinery." These, together
with addresses delivered to the various scientific and
mechanical institutes, and articles contributed to maga-
zines and publications, are all in the special direction of
his fame. But in the winter of 1873 he gave the society
and his townsmen the result of a visit to Egypt in 1872,
in four lectures. These lectures now constitute a small
volume, full of information and charm.
Bountiful gifts from Lord and Lady Armstrong have
become such frequent occurrences that they no longer oc-
casion surprise. Were the Jardin d'Acclimatation re-
peated on the western slopes of Newcastle, no one
would wonder. A lecture hall for the Literary Society
to-day, an operating theatre for the Infirmary to-mor-
row ; thousands to restore a grand old steeple ; thou-
sands more to the Children's Hospital ; three-fourths
of a £20,000 bridge across Benton Valley; ten thou-
sand to the Natural History Museum ; a Mechanics'
Institute, and a long range of schools, for the work-
men of Elswick : a Banqueting Hall for the city of
his birth ; Parks for his fellow-citizens ! I am told
that his wealth is still immense. The more he bestows
the richer he becomes. To satisfy the cravings of the
student, to reclaim the child from disease, are deeds for
more than evanescent applause. What are bags of gold
in the vaults compared with a mortgage upon the hearts
and brains of men and women ? And the parks he has
provided, the acres which his bountiful heart has wisely
bestowed upon the people, are more valuable to him now
than ever before : the quality has been transformed, the
area transferred into the grateful visages of the people ;
and smiling little faces of generations yet unborn shall
bless the memory of him who vouchsafed for them recrea-
tion grounds surrounded by the beauties and riches of
nature — who enabled them to breathe the air of heaven
amid the hum and strife of earth. He who can evoke
the blessings of the poor is more than a prince : and his
fame shall resist " the empire of decay."
The banqueting hall in Jesmond Dene, like the Armstrong
Park adjoining, forms part of the princely gifts of Lord
Armstromg to the people of Newcastle.
Lord Armstrong's portrait is copied from a photograph
by Messrs. W. and D. Downey, taken a few years ago.
j]R. MURRAY, of Oxford, pausing in the her-
culean task of his "New English Dictionary,"
_ tells us—" The fact has of late years power-
fully impressed itself upon philological students, that
the creative period of language, the epoch of 'roots,' has
never come to an end. The ' origin of language' is not to
be sought merely in a far-off Indo-European antiquity, or
in a still earlier pre-Aryan yore-time ; it is still in peren-
nial process around us." A literary language is hostile to
word-creation. But such is not the case with language in
its natural state. "The unwritten dialect," he adds,
"and, to some extent, even slang, and colloquial speech,
approach in character to language in its natural state,
aiming only at being expressive, and treating memory
and precedent as ministers, not as masters. In the local
dialects, then, in slang, in colloquial use, new vocables
and new expressions may at any time be abruptly brought
forth to serve the needs of the moment. Some of these
pass at length from colloquial into epistolary, journalis-
tic, and, finally, into general literary use. The dialect
glossaries abound in words of this kind." Such a word is
"candyman," a word known to every pitman in Durham
and Northumberland, which has a place in the English
language and is defined in "The New English Dic-
tionary " as meaning, in the North of England, " a bum-
bailiff, or process server." Now, everybody knows the
"candy," or "sugar-candy," which lured the juvenile,
happy in the possession of a penny, to purchase its sticky
sweetness from the tempting window, or which was an
irresistible bait to our infantile ha'penny when displayed
with all the blandishment of the itinerant " candyman."
But what possible connection can there be between the
grave " bum-bailiff " of the dictionary and the wandering
confectionery man with sweet discourse ? This question
was asked in the London Kotet and Queries just a dozen
years ago, and was in that same volume fully and finally
explained by Mr. W. E. Adams, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne,
who wrote — " It is not often that we are able to trace so
satisfactorily the origin of provincial words as we are that
of the word 'candyman.' It is, as was stated in the
editor's note (Notes and Queries, vol. v., p. 325, April
22nd, 1876), 'a term in the North for men employed to
carry out evictions against cottage occupiers.' There was,
in October, 1863, a great strike of miners at the collieries
of Messrs. Strakers and Love, in the county ot Durham.
As no adjustment of the difference was possible, the
owners determined to eject the miners from their cottages.
For this purpose a large number of curious characters
were engaged by the agents of Messrs. Strakers and
Love. Among the persons so engaged was at least one
January \
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
whose ordinary occupation was that of selling candy
and other sweetmeats in the neighbouring towns. The
man was recognised and was chaffed about his calling by
the evicted miners. Very soon, of course, the term
'candyman,' which rapidly became a term of reproach,
was applied to the whole class. Since that time the word
has come into general use over the two Northern Counties
whenever ejectments take place." Like the verbs to
bowdlerize, and to boycott, the substantive candyman
has thus taken its place as an English word in very
recent years. The adoption of "candyman," however,
dates from an earlier period than that mentioned by Mr.
Adams. It seems to have been first used during the
" great stick" of 1844, and had already become general in
1863. But for the prompt record of the unlikely connec-
tion between sugar-candy and the serving of a warrant,
what groping might not some twentieth century philolo-
gist have made, "as vainly in the 'word-hoard' of Old
English speech, or even the fullest vocabulary of Indo-
European roots, as in a school-manual of Latin and Greek
roots and affixes," to find the origin of the bum-bailiff
candyman ! R. OLIVER HESLOP.
STIu U0rtft=€0tmti*B (Sarlatttr
fff
)" £tokoe.
WHITTINGHAM FAIR.
jjALLADS embodying a series of riddles are
much rarer in the English language than in
the language of Sweden, Denmark, or other
Northern nations. The riddles in these
ballads are sometimes propounded to a knight, sometimes
to a lady, and often to the Evil One himself ; in the
latter case, the demon is sure, of course, to be puzzled and
unable to answer the questions.
In addition to its enigmatical character, the metrical
construction of " Whittingham Fair " is of a duolinear
form, common to many ballads which have descended to
us from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. These
compositions were generally of a rude and simple kind,
consisting of verses of two lines only, with an interval of
rest at the end of each, which the minstrel made use of to
play a symphony (either to lengthen the ballad or to
display his musical skill). Vocalists, when singing such
ballads without instrumental accompaniment, it may be
easily inferred, would introduce some burden to replace
the symphony of the minstrel. Some of these burdens
consisted of short proverbial expressions, such as " 'Tis
merry in the hall, when beards wag all." Others were
mere nonsense lines that went glibly off the tongue,
giving the accent of the music, but having no connection
with the subject of the ballad. Examples of these
burdens are common in the plays of Shakspeare and the
Elizabethan dramatists. The " Willow willow " of Ophe-
lia in " Hamlet," and "Hey ho ! the wind and the rain "
of the clown in "Twelfth Night," are specimens, as are
also the "Fallal la" and the "Tol derol"of our own day.
"Whittingham Fair," like many other old ballads, has
been relegated to the nursery, and is sometimes sung
without the first verse, though it is then evidently in-
complete.
The melody which here accompanies the song we
believe to be the original tune, and is always sung to it in
North and West Northumberland.
Are you go • ing to Whit-ting-ham Fair?
Pars - ley, sage, rose - ma - ry and thyme, Re-
jjP^r fljb^fe^g^
mem-ber me to one that lives there, For
once she was a true
lov - er
ine.
Tell her to make me a cambric shirt,
Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme ;*
Without any seam or needlework,
Then she shall be a true lover of mine.
Tell her to wash it in yonder well,
Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme ;
Where never spring water or rain ever fell,
And she shall be a true lover of mine.
Tell her to dry it on yonder thorn,
Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme ;
Which never bore blossom since Adam was born,
Then she shall be a true lover of mine.
Now he has asked me questions three,
Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme ;
I hope he'll answer as many for me
Before he shall be a true lover of mine.
Tell him to buy me an acre of land,
Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme ;
Betwixt the salt water and the sea sand,
Then he shall be a true lover of mine.
Tell him to plough it with a ram's horn,
Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme ;
And sow it all over with one pepper corn,
And he shall be a true lover of mine.
Tell him to sheer't with a sickle of leather,
Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme ;
And bind it up with a peacock feather,
And he shall be a true lover of mine.
Tell him to thrash it on yonder wall,
Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme,
And never let one corn of it fall,
Then he shall be a true lover of mine.
When he has done and finished his work,
Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme ;
Oh. tell mm to come and he'll have his shirt,
And he shall be a true lover of mine.
• The second line of the song " Parsley, sage, rowmary, and
thyme," fullv bears out the condition of being a nonsense line,
having no connection with the lubjeet ; but when we once heard
the ballad the singer achieved a still higher pitch of absurdity by
solemnly chanting "Parsley, sage, grwa merry in time, an the
correct burden.
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
j] ALTON CASTLE or Tower is situated
about a couple of miles north of Cor-
bridge, and within a short distance of the
Roman Wall. It is regarded as a good specimen of the
late pele tower. Without possessing any distinguish-
ing feature, it is interesting from the fact that its stones
were mostly taken from the neighbouring Roman station
of Halton Cheaters, which was identified by Horsley as
the Hunnum of the Notitia, the fifth of the stations from
the east per lineam valli and the headquarters of the
Sabinian cavalry regiment. Two Roman funereal tablets
are built into the surrounding walls. A small chapel ad-
joins ; but, save the chancel arch and the east window,
little of the original architecture remains.
The manor originally belonged to the family of Halton,
and appears in the list of lands held in drengage under
King John. There was a John de Halton in Henry III. 's
reipm, and a William of the family was High Sheriff of
Northumberland in the seventeenth year of the reign of
Edward I. A sister, Margaret, inherited a moiety of the
manor, the other moiety being possessed by the Carnabys
of Carnaby, a famous Northumbrian family who in the
reign of Richard II. appear to have been in possession of
the whole manor. Preserved in this Border tower was a
sword of the Carnabys, 5ft. 4in. long. There is a tradi-
tion to the effect that when the country was infested with
mosstroopers one of the Carnabys had a commission to
apprehend and try them. Whilst he was engaged upon
the trial of some thieves who had fallen into his hands, a
notorious character was seized by his son, who asked his
father what should be done with him. "Hang him,"
said the father. At the termination of the trial with
which he was occupied, the elder Carnaby ordered the
culprit to be brought before him, but was informed that
the sentence had already been carried out. There is a
similar tradition, however, about Belted Will.
A relic of the feudal system, according to a statement
in the proceedings of the Newcastle Society of Anti-
quaries for 1882-t, is still observed at Great Whittington.
The freeholders are obliged to send seven mowers and
January \
1889. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
9
fourteen reapers to Halton Castle for one day every year
when called upon. It is called the Bond Barge. The
labourers receive no wages, but are supplied with victuals
and drink.
Efttrltoall
pHE ruins of Thirlwall Castle are situate on
an eminence on the west bank of the Tipalt,
a tributary of the South Tyne, at a short
distance north of the point where that rivulet was
crossed by the great Roman Wall. Though the
castle is said to derive its name from the Scots
piercing the wall here, it has evidently had no con-
nection with the great barrier. Horsley, indeed, con-
jectures that it might have received its present name
from a passage of a branch of the South Tyne through
the wall a little to the west of the fortress. There is,
however, a tradition that the castle received its name
from the fact that the Roman Wall was "thirled," or
penetrated, at this point. The walls are in some places nine
feet thick, and the place was defended by a strong outward
barrier. There is evidence that this stronghold was built
entirely of stones from the Roman Wall. In 1831 the
south wall fell into the Tipalt. The ruins now present a
picturesque appearance, derived from its situation on a
rocky boss about thirty feet from the stream. Thirlwall
Castle was for many generations the seat of the Thirl-
walls, whose heiress, in 1738, married Matthew Swin-
burn, of Capheaton, who sold the castle and manor to the
Earl of Carlisle. Dr. Bruce in his "Roman Wall,"
says : — " Amongst the witnesses examined on the occa-
sion of the famous suit between the families of Scrope
and Grosvenor, for the right to bear the shield 'azure, a
bend or, 'which was opened at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, in
1385, before King Richard II. in person, was John
Thirlwall, an esquire of Northumberland. The witness
10
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/January
\ 1689.
related what he heard on the subject of the dispute from
his father, who 'died at the age of 145, and was, when he
died, the oldest esquire in the North, and had been in
arms in his time sixty -nine years.' Such is the lan-
guage of the record of these proceedings, preserved in the
Tower of London."
at Jttarft 'Eton^t Cgne antr
Brabant,
AN EXTREME LOYALIST.
" Sir Henry Brabant, another alderman, profest, if the
King should command him to kill a man in cold blood,
he took himself bound in conscience and duty to execute
his commands." " Life of Ambrose Barnes."
j]NE of Richardson's reprints— " The Eve of
the Revolution in Newcastle" (already
quoted in our sketch" of Sir William
Blackett the Second)— is a letter to King
James II. from Sir Henry Brabant, complaining that his
loyalty to the Crown had not been supported as it should
have been by some of his colleagues in the municipal
government of Newcastle. The writer of this epistle
came, like so many other "men of light and leading" in
Newcastle, from the adjoining palatinate. His father,
John Brabant, of Pedgbank, had bound him apprentice,
in 1636, to Alexander (afterwards Sir Alexander) Davi-
son, one of the leaders of the Royalist party in New-
castle, and one of the most venerable and venerated
aldermen of that faction. The times were becoming
critical when he entered upon his apprenticeship ; they
became still more so before his indentures were half com-
pleted ; long ere his term expired the country was en-
gaged in civil war. In the eighth year of his servitude,
when the Scots stormed Newcastle, his master was killed
fighting, at the age of eighty, upon the town wall.
Trade being at a standstill, he made no effort to secure
a "turnover," and when he applied to be admitted to
the freedom of the Merchants' Company he was fined for
neglecting to complete his apprenticeship. Pleading ig-
norance, he obtained a remission of one-half the fine, and
on the 1st September he was received into fellowship.
Not for long, however, did he enjoy his privileges. He
had taken lessons in loyalty from the master who died
sword in hand defending the Stuart cause, and express-
ing his opinions too freely, he incurred the displeasure of
the authorities. By order of Common Council, in 1649,
he was publicly disfranchised for being in arms against
the Parliament.
What became of Mr. Brabant during the interregnum,
is not stated. At the Restoration he regained his
freedom, and, being impoverished in his estate by the
civil commotions, obtained from Charles II. the office
of collector of customs, &c., in Newcastle. The
Shrievalty came to him in 1662, and five years later he
rose to the higher position of Mayor. Excisemen in
those days were not usually very popular persons, and
even collectors of customs, when invested with municipal
authority, were apt to be regarded with aversion.
"There were none that bore office in the excise but
rogues," said John Lee, yeoman, " being at William
Mason's house in the Bigg Market," on the lath
October, a few days after Mr. Brabant's election. " And
what was Henry Brabant," he temerariously asked,
" but an exciseman ! and none but broken rogues had
such places." For which outspoken speech, and seditious
words against his Majesty, Lee was hauled up before
a magistrate, as, at a later date, Albert Hodgson was
cited for saying something to the contrary effect.
Hodgson being a Catholic, railed at Alderman Davison,
son of Brabant's master, " and did with much invitracye
and malice asperse and abuse Mr. Davison," adding that
"none of the aldermen were worth anything except
Mr. Brabant," &c. In the times of the Stuarts, as in
our own day, railing and abuse were the common
heritage of persons in authority, for party spirit in
politics and religion is eternally the same.
In the books of the Trinity House is a record that
Alderman Henry Brabant and Ralph Jenison were
deputed by the town to attend the King in council for the
adjustment of a dispute pending between the town and
Mr. Edmoud Curtis, who had undertaken to clear
away the wrecks in the river. The Hostmen's books
contain entries that "Ralph Jenison, governor, and
Henry Brabant, Esq., going to London, are desired to
use their endeavours to secure an Act of Parliament for
regulating the abuses of collieries," &c., and that in 1681
the Hostmen appointed a committee to consult Henry
Brabant and other officers in the Custom House, with a
view to compel ships to discharge at a proper ballast
quay, or shore, within the river. Items of no great
importance are these, except to show that Mr. Brabant
was living in the sunshine, after some years spent in the
shade. The circumstances under which he became
Mayor a second time, at Michaelmas, 1685, are given in
his letter to the King. In that document he appears as
a knight, and it is believed that he received this courtly
title at his Majesty's accession in March previous. The
honour came too late to be of much use to him. For in
June, 1687, being then about 66 years of age, he died —
died, as he had lived, a poor man. There is an order of
Common Council, dated 1707, by which £5 was to be
given " to Lady Brabant in charity," and that is the last
time the name appears in the municipal annals of
Newcastle.
January \
1889. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
11
gflje ?Rtt). |oljn $ranb, Jtt.gu,
ANTIQUARY AND HI8TOBIAN.
The father of John Brand was parish clerk of
Washington, near Durham. His daily occupation is
not stated ; probably he was a farm labourer, or small
handicraftsman ; if he had been in better circumstances,
local historians would have told us so. His son John
was born on the 19th August, 17*4; his wife died
shortly afterwards, and when he married a second
time he allowed his brother-in-law, Anthony Wheatley,
to bring the boy to Newcastle to be brought up. Mr.
Wheatley was a shoemaker in the Back Row, a narrow
thoroughfare which extended eastward from the foot
of Westgate Street. (A view of the Back Row, which
has now disappeared, was given in the Monthly Chronicle,
vol. ii., p. 137.) He was only a small tradesman, follow-
ing an ill-requited calling in a poor neighbourhood,
with squalid surroundings, but he did the best he could
for his adopted son.
As soon as he was old enough, young Brand was sent
to the Royal Free Grammar School of Newcastle, an
institution which a newly-appointed headmaster — the
Rev. Hugh Moises — was endowing with fresh life.
Under his careful tuition, the lad made rapid progress.
Wise and thoughtful beyond his years, as boys brought
up by foster-parents often are, he became a diligent and
obedient scholar — a credit to the school, and a source of
pride and gratification to bis teachers. At the age of
fourteen he was withdrawn from Mr. Moises's care, and
bound apprentice to his uncle.
It was, perhaps, fortunate that the sedentary occupa-
tion of a cordwainer fell to his lot. Shoemaking, as
practised before the introduction of machinery, was
favourable to the formation of studious habits. Young
Brand had acquired at the Grammar School a taste for
learning which he was unwilling to neglect. His uncle,
being a lenient master, and most likely proud of the
accomplishments of his youthful relative, raised no objec-
tion. Thus, unfettered at home, and encouraged by Mr.
Moises, the lad kept up his studies, conned over his
lessons as he sat at work, and grew up to manhood
clever and accomplished.
When his indentures of apprenticeship expired, in 1765,
Mr. Brand was desirous of utilising his acquirements in
a more congenial sphere. But no opening presented
itself to his maturing genius, and he remained with his
uncle. During his servitude he had begun to woo the
Muse, and ventured into print with "A Collection of
Peetical Essays. Newcastle-upon-Tyne : Printed by I.
Thompson, Esq., 1765."
Under the will of Bishop Crewe, Lincoln College,
Oxford, was endowed with twelve exhibitions to be held
by natives of the diocese of Durham, and in 1768, when
Mr. Brand was taking up his freedom of the Cordwainers
Company, it occurred to Mr. Moises that the bishop's
munificence might be utilised to rescue his gifted protegu
from a life of drudgery and indigence. Opulent friends
were consulted, and favourable responses obtained. On
the 8th of October, 1768, Mr. Brand was admitted a
commoner of Lincoln College, and on the 10th of the
month following he was elected a Lord Crewe ex-
hibitioner, the value of which, at that time, was £30 per
annum. His collegiate course lasted three years, and
when it was ended he was ordained by Dr. Egerton,
Bishop of Durham, and licensed to the curacy of Bolam.
In 1773, returning to Newcastle, he officiated as one of
the curates of St. Andrew's, and the following year, Mr.
Matthew Ridley, of Heaton, gave him his first pre-
ferment, the curacy of Cramlington, of the yearly value
of £40.
While at Oxford, Mr. Brand had renewed his dalliance
with the poetic Muse. The subject of his verse was sug-
gested by frequent walks along the banks of the Isis to
the ruins of Godstow Nunnery, the burial place of "Fair
Rosamond," paramour of Henry II. In 1775, when he
took his bachelor's degree, he gave these poetical medita-
tions to the printer, and they were published in a thin
quarto (with a copperplate engraving by Ralph Beilby),
under the suggestive title of "Illicit Love." For-
tunately, soon after its publication, he turned to a
more attractive and more useful study— that of
antiquities. In November, 1776, he sent to press,
from his residence in Westgate Street, Bourne's
little book on the Antiquities of the Common Peo-
ple (which had become scarce) with copious addi-
tions of his own, under the title of "Observations
on Popular Antiquities." This work, expanded from
materials which Mr. Brand left behind him, and from
other sources, was re-issued in 1813 by Mr. (afterwards
Sir) Henry Ellis, and has been several times reprinted.
12
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
A few months after it was published the author was
admitted a member of the London Society of Anti-
quaries ; the year following he was appointed under
usher in the Grammar School of Newcastle, where he
had received his early education ; and in 1781, having
in the meantime taken his M.A. degree, he was preferred
to the ushership. The curacies of Cramlington and St.
Andrew's, Newcastle, supplemented by his income as
usher, afforded him a moderate competence, and he lived
in Newcastle, with his aunt, Mrs. Wheatley, as his house-
keeper, in comparative ease and comfort.
While thus engaged, be had been collecting materials
for a history of Newcastle, and by Christmas, 1783,
had made substantial progress with his work. It
happened that just at this time the rectory of St.
Mary-at-Hill and St. Andrew Hubbard, in the City of
London, fell vacant, and the Duke of Northumberland,
the patron for that turn, offered the living to Mr.
Brand, adding to it the office of private secretary and
librarian. On the 8th of February, 1784, he read him-
self in at St. Mary-at-Hill, and prepared to take up
his permanent abode in London. Directly afterwards,
another appointment fell in his way. Dr. Morrell,
secretary to the London Society of Antiquaries, died
on the 19th of the month, and through the influence of
the duke, and the high opinion which his fellow
members entertained of his merits, Mr. Brand was
unanimously chosen to fill the office.
And now, resident in the Metropolis, provided with
ample means, and having free access to public records
and private collections, Mr. Brand was able to push his
history of Newcastle more rapidly towards completion.
Frequent reference to it is made in his " Letters to
Ralph Beilby," published by the Newcastle Typographi-
cal Society. Obtaining from the Common Council of
Newcastle, on the 14th June, 1787, permission to dedicate
the work to them, he commenced to solicit subscribers,
and on the 16th May, 1789, it was announced as ready for
delivery, price three guineas, in two volumes, royal
quarto, and liberally illustrated with 34- plates, &c.,
engraved by Mr. Fittler.
For two and twenty years Mr. Brand fulfilled the
duties of secretary to the Society of Antiquaries and
rector of St. Mary-at-Hill. He did not marry, but lived
with a housekeeper at the rooms of the society in
Somerset Place, Strand, till, prosecuted by common
informers for non-residence, he was compelled to occupy
his parsonage. After the publication of his "History,"
nothing of importance issued from his pen. He con-
tributed a few papers to the " Archaeologia," and printed
a quarto pamphlet about some inscriptions discovered in
the Tower of London, and that was all. Not that his
pen was idle during that long time. On the contrary, it
was constantly at work, though in another direction. He
n.ade it the chief business of his life to collect scarce and
out-of-the-way books and manuscripts, and enrich them
with pen and ink sketches of their authors, explanations
of the text, and other useful and critical annotations.
Many hundreds of books, pamphlets, and tracts were
gathered together at Somerset Place and the parson-
age, some of them of the rarest character. Writing a
small, thin hand, but clear and legible as print, he was
able to compress a great deal of matter into a fly leaf, or
the back of a title page, and scores of his treasures were
in this way illustrated, explained, and improved.
On the morning of the llth of September, 1806, while
preparing for his usual walk through the City to the
office of the Society of Antiquaries, Mr. Brand suddenly
died in his study. He was buried in the chancel of
his church of St. Mary-at-Hill, where a tablet, bearing
the following inscription, preserves the memory of his
pastorate : —
Within the Communion Rails lies interred the Body of
the Rev. John Brand, 22 years and 6 months the faithful
Rector of this and the united Parish of St. Andrew
Hubbard. He was also perpetual Curate of Cramlington,
in the County of Northumberland, and he was Fellow
and Secretary of the Society of Antiquaries. He died
llth September, 1806, in the 63rd year of his age. His
affectionate Aunt, Mrs. Ann Wheatley, of Newcastle-
upon-Tyne, has erected this Monument to his Memory.
By his will dated March 14, 1790, Mr. Brand be-
queathed all his " books, English portraits, prints,
ancient coins, household furniture, cloaths, and linen,"
and all the residue, &c., to his aunt and sole executrix,
Ann Wheatley, who had brought him up. The old
lady proceeded to realise the property, and the sale of
the books and MSS. which he had gathered together
was a notable event in London. A priced catalogue of
the first part of the "Bibliotheca Brandiana" shows
that the sale lasted from May 6 to June 20, 1807,
comprised 8,611 lots of books, &e., and 243 lots of
MSS., and with a second auction in February follow-
ing of more than 4,000 duplicates, and collections of
pamphlets, realised £17,000.
Probate was granted to Mrs. Wheatley in November,
1806, the value of the property being sworn as under
£800. But after the sale, when it was ascertained how
inadequately that sum represented the value of Mr.
Brand's effects, another probate was issued, and the pre-
vious one was declared to be null and void. At Mrs
Wheatley's death, her furniture and other goods and
chattels were bequeathed to her maid, Mary Sharp, who
had lived with Mr. Brand in London. From Mary Sharp,
who resided for some years in Cumberland Row, New-
castle, and died at the age of 90, they came to her niece
Ann, wife of Edward Hudson, of Alnwick, and are now
in the possession of Mrs. Hudson's representative, Miss
Almond of that town. Among them are Mr. Brand's
cabinet of coins and curios, gold watch, clock, portfolio of
prints, and various framed pictures and engravings. His
writing desk (upon which the Rev. Mr. Wasney, the
popular curate of St. Thomas's Chapel, wrote his sermons
while lodging with Mary Sharp) is owned by the widow
January!
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
13
of the late Mr. William Armstrong, master printer of the
Newcastle Chronicle — a friend of the Hudson family. A
collection of papers and letters by and relating to Mr.
Brand, including his memorandum book for 1799, and a
MS. notice of his works by the late Mr. Thomas Bell,
was purchased by the Rev. J. R. Boyle, in 1885, and is
now in the library of the Newcastle Society of Anti-
quaries.
Our portrait is taken from a miniature kindly lent by
Mr. J. C. Brooks, of Newcastle, who inherited it from
Mr. John Martin, librarian to the London University.
So far as is known, this is the only recognisable portrait
of Mr. Brand in existence, the liknesses prefixed to the
" History of Newcastle," and sometimes found attached
to the catalogue of the "Bibliotheca Brandiana, " being
only shadow-outlines, or silhouettes.
(George
ATTORNEY AND TEMPERANCE REFORMER.
In the early part of the present century three brothers
named Brewis came from the country to Newcastle, and
started business as cartmen. They were industrious,
thrifty, God-fearing men, and they prospered. John, the
oldest, became an elder and precentor at the High Bridge
Presbyterian Chapel, round which loving memories of the
Rev. James Murray still lingered, and his brothers
William and George were among his fellow-worshippers
They all brought up families in respectability and com-
fort. One of John Brewis's sons became a popular
Independent minister (of him more presently) ; one of
William's children was George Brewis, attorney, pioneer
of building societies in Newcastle, and temperance
reformer.
George Brewis was born about the year 1814, in Percy
Street, and was educated by Mr. John Weir, a well-
known schoolmaster of the period. As a boy he entered
the office of Mr. John Clayton, town clerk, where he
continued eleven years, and thence transferred his
services to Mr. George Tallentire Gibson, to whom he
was articled with a view of entering the profession of
the law. About 1845, he was placed on the rolls as an
attorney and solicitor, and at once commenced a prac.
tice as the legal adviser of building societies, the founda-
tion of which, with much foresight, he had laid during
his clerkship.
Incentives to thrift in the form of building societies,
and incitements to sobriety in the shape of total abstin-
ence pledges, came in together. Joseph Livesey, the
founder of teetotalism, visited Newcastle in the autumn
of 1835. George Brewis signed the pledge on the 22nd
June, 1836, and immediately thereafter became an active
propagandist of temperance principles. When the first
report of the " Newcastle Teetotal Society " came out, its
roll of officers was filled with these well-known names :—
President, Jonathan Priestman ; secretaries, Jas. Rew-
castle (corresponding), Geo. Hornsby (minute), John
Benson (registering), and Geo. Brewis (discipline).
Following the bent of his own inclination as well as the
traditions of his fore-elders, Mr. Brewis was an earnest
Nonconformist. As a youth he taught in the Sunday
School of High Bridge Chapel ; in manhood he became
a member of the Congregational Church assembling in
St. James's Chapel, at the head of Grey Street. In
politics he was an advanced Liberal, and gave energetic
support to Mr. J. F. B. Blackett, Mr. Peter Carstairs,
and Mr. (afterwards Sir) Joseph Cowen, in their re-
spective candidatures for the representation of New-
castle. With municipal matters he did not actively
intermeddle till late in life, and then, having been a
Poor Law Guardian for a time, he fought for a seat in
the Council, and was unsuccessful.
Mr. Brewis died suddenly in his office, Royal Arcade,
on the 3rd December, 1867, and a few days later was
interred in Elswick Cemetery with the solemnities of a
public funeral.
$eo. SKUltam
INDEPENDENT MINISTER.
William Brewis, eldest son of the before-named John
Brewis, was born in Newcastle on the 8th of October,
1804. Trained to the religious life by his father at High
Bridge Chapel, and manifesting early inclinations for the
work of the ministry, he was sent to Rotherham Indepen-
dent College, in September, 1820, on the eve of his 17th,
u
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
year. After passing through the usual curriculum, he
was called to the pastorate of the church at Lane End in
Staffordshire, and on the 26th of April, 1825, received the
rite of ordination. His next appointment was at Kirby
Moorside ; thence he removed to Gainsborough ; and in
1837 he became minister of the Congregational Church at
Penrith, where he remained until called to his reward,
thirty-two years later.
The congregation at Penrith was small in number and1
in influence when Mr. Brewis entered upon his ministry
there, but his preaching attracted hearers, and in no
long time he built up a strong and flourishing cause.
Such was his success that, after a few years' labour, a new
building, in which his Penrith followers might worship
with convenience and comfort, became desirable. But,
although his hearers were numerous, their resources were
slender. It was not until 1865 that they felt justified in
commencing to build a place that should be worthy of
them and their position. When, however, they did begin,
they built for posterity. Completed in July, 1866, at a
cost of £3,500, the handsome new edifice became a centre
of renewed life and activity, sixty members were added in
one year, and the various organisations which have their
origin and find their home in a prosperous religious
community, grew and flourished under the roof of Penrith
Congregational Church.
i'or three years only was Mr. Brewis permitted to see
the fruition of his labours. The end came somewhat
suddenly. In the morning of Saturday, May 22, 1869,
after family worship, he complained of sickness, and in
the afternoon, sinking from his chair, in a kneeling
posture he passed away. On the Wednesday, while his
old friend Samuel Plimsoll, M.P., and ministers from all
parts of the Northern Counties gathered round, his re-
mains were buried in the private cemetery of the congre-
gation. A sermon from the text, " The Lord God is a
Sun," which he had prepared the day before his death for
the ensuing morning service, was read the following Sun-
day in a dozen neighbouring chapels, and, being after-
wards printed, had a wide circulation.
|ol)n Srottec Crockett,
AUTHOB OF THE "GLOSSARY."
During the fifty years which preceded the general
adoption of steam locomotion, when methods of inter-
communication and opportunities for interchange of
thought and opinion between provincial communities
were limited, Newcastle was the home of gifted men,
whose acquirements in literature and science, in anti-
quities and art, gave the town a definite position among
trans-metropolitan centres of intellectual activity. Excel-
lent are their names — Adamson and Atkinson, Bewick
and Buddie, Burdon and Brockett, Dobson and Double-
day, Hodgson, Losh, and Mitchell, Mackenzie, Richard-
eon, and Turner, Williamson, Wilson, and Winch. Ad-
mirable were their enterprises — the Literary and Philo-
sophical Society, Society of Antiquaries, Typographical
Society, Institution for the Promotion of the Fine Arts,
Botanical and Horticultural Society, Mechanics' In-
stitute, and Natural History Society. "True men were
they in their time " — these pioneers and promoters of cul-
ture in Newcastle. " They rest from their labours"; but
their works, for the most part, survive, and bear testi-
mony, generation after generation, to their wisdom and
foresight, to their energy and devotion.
Among these leaders of thought in Newcastle, John
Trotter Brockett was a prominent figure. Born in 1788,
JOHN TROTTER BROCKETT.
his early surroundings had been in the highest decree
favourable to the acquisition of knowledge and the cul-
tivation of literary taste. The Rev. William Turner —
Unitarian divine, scientific lecturer, and director-general
of intellectual progress on both sides the Tyne— super-
intended his education ; his father (claiming on the
mother's side descent from the Nonconformist family of
Angus) was Deputy-Prothonotary in the local Courts of
Record, and supervised his studies in mathematics and
jurisprudence. His own diligence, aiding the sound
training of teacher and parent, enabled him, at the
proper age, to enter with confidence upon the profession
of the law. Having completed articles with Messrs.
Clayton and Brumell, the leading solicitors in the town,
he became managing clerk to Mr. Armorer Donkin, in
due time was admitted an attorney, married a daughter
of John Bell, merchant, and settled down to a lucrative
practice.
Mr. Brockett commenced at an early period of life to
write, to edit, and to publish. In 1817, his name appears
as the editor of a new issue of Bartlet's " Episcopal Coins
January!
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
15
-of Durham and the Monastic Coins of Reading, Minted
during the Rei(rns of Edwards I., II., and III." Heat
the same time reprinted two rare tracts — one of 1627,
"A Short View of the Long Life and Reigne of Henry
the Third"; the other, dated 1650, being "An Exact
Narration of the Life and Death of the Reverend and
Learned Prelate and Painful Divine, Launcelot Andre wes,
late Bishop of Winchester." The excellence of the typo-
graphy displayed in these reprints by the printer (Mrs.
Hodgson) induced him to suggest the formation of
a society for the re-issuing of scarce tracts, and the
preservation of local compositions, in the best style
of printing that the town could produce. He was
busy at this time with a learned treatise upon a
question that was occupying the attention of local
politicians, and the following year it was issued,
with the long-drawn title of "An Enquiry into the
Question whether the Freeholders of the Town and
County of Newcastle-upon-Tyne are entitled to vote for
members of Parliament for the County of Northumber-
land"— an inquiry, by the way, that was answered by
the Reform Bill. As soon as this, his first bit of inde-
pendent authorship, was out of hand, Mr. Brockett
resumed his reprint proposals. A pamphlet on "Hints
on the Propriety of Establishing a Typographical
Society in Newcastle," which he published in the same
year as the " Enquiry," led to the formation of a literary
organisation based upon his suggestions. The Newcastle
Typographical Society sprang into being at once, and,
although its aims were limited and some of the members
were not very careful about the utility of the productions
which they put forth, a collection of their tracts—
about 80 in number — is not without historical value.
The society printed for private distribution as a rule,
and in very limited numbers, Of some of their publica-
tions only twenty copies were issued ; of a few as many
as 300 were struck off, and these were generally offered
for sale, but for the most part the number printed was
a hundred. On various issues were engraved the special
devices of the issuing members, being generally cuts by
Bewick, representing a ruin with armorial bearings.
Mr. Brockett's vignette, which appears upon a dozen of
the tracts, was one of the most striking, as his pamphlets
were, from a historical point of view, among the most
valuable of the series.
In 1825, appeared the first edition of his far-famed
" Glossary of North-Country Words" ; it was followed in
1829 by another and much more comprehensive book
under the same title ; and after Mr. Brockett's death,
his son, aided by local men of letters, brought out the
work in the two-volume form that is now most com-
monly met with. A " Glossographia Anglicana," from
MSS. which Mr. Brockett had prepared for publication,
was privately printed a few years ago in "The Sette
of Odd Volumes, "with a biographical sketch by Frederick
Bloomer.
From the title of the first book to which Mr. Brockett
put his name it may be inferred that he was interested
in the collection of coins and medals. To a knowledge
of numismatics, which was at once deep and wide, he
added a passion for gathering together not only the
shining discs which attract men to that special cult,
but curios of all kinds, and especially rare editions of
rare books. Mr. Fenwick tells us that his collection
of the former at a ten days' sale in London, in 1823,
realised £1,760; and his library of scarce and curious
books, which occupied fourteen days in the selling,
brought £4-, 260. No sooner had he disposed of these
treasures than he began to accumulate afresh. Dr.
Dibdin, the famous antiquary, passing through New-
castle in 1837, was entertained by the literati of
the town, and in the charming book which he after-
wards published, "A Bibliographical, Antiquarian, and
Picturesque Tour in the Northern Counties of England
and in Scotland," describes his intercourse with Mr.
Brockett in terms of mingled humour and apprecia-
tion : —
More than once was the hospitable table of my friend,
John Trotter Brockett, Esq., spread to receive me. He
lives comparatively in a nut-shell : but what a kernel !
Pictures, books, curiosities, medals, coins of precious
value, bespeak his discriminating eye and his liberal
heart. You may revel here from sunrise to sunset, and
fancy the domains interminable. Do not suppose that a
stated room, or rooms, are only appropriated to his
BOKES : they are " upstairs, downstairs, and in my lady's
chamber." They spread all over the house— tendrils of
pliant curve and perennial verdure. For its size, if 1
except those of one or two Sannatyners, I am not sure
whether this be not about the choicest collection of books
which I saw on my tour.
From an early period of his life Mr. Brockett was a
member of the Literary and Philosophical Society of
Newcastle, and for some years preceding his death he
undertook the responsible duties of one of its secretaries.
He assisted at the formation of the Newcastle Society of
Antiquaries, and became an active member of its Council.
The Newcastle and Gateshead Law Society found in him
16
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
one of its warmest supporters, and awarded him, in 18J2,
its special thanks for services he had rendered to the pro-
fession before a Parliamentary Committee. He was a
Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London ; the
well-known initials of that institution formed the only
affix that he consented to couple with his name. In
domestic life, he was a pattern of all that was amiable.
His family participated with him in his favourite studies
and pursuits, and his home was the abode of peace and
happiness. Some years previously to his death he lost his
eldest sen. He sustained the shock with surprising
fortitude ; but it may have been the remote cause of
his death, which occurred at his house in Albion Street
on the 12th of October, 1842, in the 54th year of his age.
was the popular name given to two
Hfe-sized leaden figures which for many
years formed the chief attraction and laud-
mark in Broad Street (now Roker Avenue), at the
junction of Fulwell Lane and Church Street, Monk-
in its later days by " Gentleman John," a soubriquet
which clung to Mr. John Smith, shipowner, all through
his successful career from a blacksmith to a capitalist.
But previous to this it ia said to have been the residence
of the great-grandfather of the late Mr. George Cooper
Abbes, of Cleadon Hall, who purchased the two figures'
which had been brought over from Germany (with ten
more) by some speculative skipper, and set them up to
adorn the entrance to his house. The other figures found
their way into the hands of different gentlemen in the
County Palatine, and most of them have probably Jong
ere this been melted down for the sake of the lead. The
duty on lead, in the shape of ore, was four pounds a ton a
hundred years ago, whereas the Babbies, being "works
of art," would be admitted either duty free or for a com-
paratively small charge.
Between sixty and seventy years ago, the Broad
Street mansion (or, as some say, the house next to it)
wearmouth. The house with the garden pillars thus
ornamented was once a very pleasant residence, remark-
able for having a clock and bells, and was occupied
was occupied by a Scotchman of the name of Rae
who kept a -genteel school in it, which was attended
by the children of the principal Sunderland families— the
Kennicotts, Robsons, &c. Mr. Kae's wife was the sister
of a Miss Gilbert, the mother of the celebrated Lola
Montez, whose real name was Eliza Gilbert. Eliza,
whose father is said to have been an officer in the
British army serving in India, was sent home from
the East while yet a mere child, and boarded
January I
1889. j
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
17
with Mr. and Mrs. Rae, from whom she received
the elements of a Rood substantial English education.
She had for her schoolfellows many who, when she after-
wards became world-famous, remembered her as a very
interesting, clever, pretty girl.
A few years ago, the Babbies were presented to the
Roker Park, where they may now be seen ; but it is
proposed to place them on the pillars at the entrance
from Roker Promenade when the gateway shall have
been completed. The style of dress denotes the
figures to be of German or Dutch manufacture. The
scythe which the man is represented in the act of sharpen-
ing, is the Flemish or Hainault scythe, with which a good
workman could cut an acre of corn easily in a day, and
which was introduced into this country by some enter-
prising farmers about fifty years ago, to take the place of
the Irish scythe-hook, which had itself supplanted the
old toothed hook or sickle, all to be rendered obsolete in
their turn by the reaping machine.
TOmft at tire
(HE wreck of the Stanley at the mouth of the
Tyne took place on the 24th of November,
1864. During the early part of that day, a
strong breeze blew from the east-south-east.
It was not, however, sufficiently violent off the mouth of
the Tyne to account for the gradual rise of the waves as
the day advanced. In the afternoon, the storm, of which
the wind from the quarter indicated had been the herald,
gradually grew in violence until it became evident that
there were serious grounds for apprehension as to the
safety of vessels which were then in the offing. About
half-past four o'clock an occurrence took place which,
unfortunately, proved the precursor of further and
more serious disasters. One of the Tyne Commis-
sioners' hoppers, in tow of a steam-tug belonging to
Mr. Lawson, of South Shields, was outside the bar, when
the towline parted. The hopper was driven behind the
North Pier, the two men who were on board of her being
rescued by means of life-buoys by some of the pier men ;
while the tug was dashed upon the Herd Sands, whence
her crew were saved by the South Shields lifeboat. The
next vessel which ran on shore proved to be the passenger
steamer Stanley.
This fine vessel was the property of the Aberdeen
Steam Navigation Company. She was an iron screw-
steamer, and was built at West Hartlepool by Messrs.
Pile, Spence, and Co. in 1859. Her register tonnage was
376, her actual burthen being 552 tons. She had sailed
from Aberdeen on the previous night, bound for London,
in charge of Captain Howling, having a crew of 2j
hands, all told. The number of passengers at the time
of sailing was 30, about half of whom were women.
The vessel had also a full cargo on board, and on her deck
were about 48 cattle and 30 sheep. She proceeded on
her voyage with every prospect of reaching her desired
haven in safety, until off the Northumberland coast,
where she first began to experience the effects of the
storm. Finding the sea so turbulent in-shore, the
Stanley stood out seaward in the expectation of finding
smoother water, but discovered th:it she was only run-
18
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
IK*
ning into the full force of the gale. In this terrible
plight, the captain determined to steam for the Tyne,
the mouth of which was reached about a quarter to five
o'clock. The master had only once during his nautical
career been in the Tyne, and that was about twenty
years previously. Under these circumstances, he na-
turally felt considerable hesitation in taking the bar,
more especially as the tidal lights were not then
burning. He fired a couple of rockets for a pilot, but
none came off. A tug-steamer did, indeed, leave the
harbour, but she never approached near to the
Stanley. The mate, however, who had frequently
sailed to and from the Tyne, expressed his readiness
to steer the vessel into port. The captain yielded to
his representations, and the head of the steamer was
turned towards the bar. This was safely crossed. But
the ship had got no further than just off the Spanish
Battery, when, with a dreadful shock, she struck upon
the rocks known as the Black Middens.
As soon as the peril of the Stanley was seen from the
shore, a number of the coastguardsmen set about getting
the rocket apparatus ready for firing. The Tynemouth
lifeboat, the Constance, was promptly manned, while the
North Shields lifeboats, the Northumberland and
Providence, with the South Shields lifeboats, William
Wake, Tyne, and Fly, were also got out and pulled
down the harbour into the Narrows. Intelligence of the
catastrophe spread with lightning-like rapidity, and the
consternation and excitement of the inhabitants in the
sister towns at the mouth of the Tyne were intense.
The night was pitch dark, and from the elevated
headland overlooking the harbour the sea could be made
out only by a broad band of white foam ; but a couple of
hundred yards from the shore could be dimly discerned
through the gloom some dark object indicating the
position of the ill-fated vessel. The roar of the waves, too,
was deafening ; but in the lulls of the storm the despair-
ing wail of the poor creatures exposed to the pitiless
waves was heard with painful and agonizing distinctness.
As the tide fell, the rocket apparatus was carried over the
rocks, and preparations were made to establish means of
communication with those on board.
Before the disaster, the Stanley had been provided
with four lifeboats ; but, after striking upon the rocks,
three of these were speedily smashed to pieces. An
attempt was made to launch the remaining lifeboat ; and
for this purpose four of the crew got into her, taking with
them four female passengers. While the boat, however,
was being lowered from the davits, a heavy sea caused
her to turn round and sink. Three of the seamen were
rescued by those on board, but the four ladies and the
fourth seaman were, in a moment, swept beyond the
reach of aid.
After firing one or two abortive rockets, the coastguard
at last succeeded in establishing communication with the
Stanley. The line carried by the rocket was soon the
.means of carrying a stout warp between. the vessel
and the shore ; and upon this warp the cradle was
slung. The first man to venture into the cradle was an
ordinary seaman, named Andrew Campbell, who was
safely conveyed to the shore amid the cheers of the
bystanders. A second seaman and a woman next got
into the cradle, but, unhappily, they fell or were
thrown out, and were drowned. The second mate,
James Knipp, then took his place in the cradle, and was
safely drawn through the raging waters to the shore.
Owing to an unfortunate error of judgment on tho
part of some one, the hawser was secured in such a
manner that it was no higher than the rail of the ship,
the consequence being that those on shore could not get
it clear of the water. The result of the mistake was
soon painfully palpable. When a seaman named Buchan
had been drawn about midway between the vessel and
the shore, the bight of the warp was borne by his
weight against the rocks, amongst which the whip-line
of the cradle became entangled, and the cradle itself was
brought to a standstill. Inspired by the strength born
of despair, the determined fellow managed to haul himself
hand-over-hand to the shore by the warp. The warp and
cradle being, by this untoward accident, rendered use-
less, an end was put for the time being to any further
efforts in that direction ; and the unfortunate pas-
sengers and crew still on board were left to their fate
until the full tide of the morning should afford an
opportunity for the resumption of measures for their
rescue.
The captain and his mate appear to have done every-
thing in their power towards saving the passengers from
being swept away. Two women — the only two who were
afterwards saved — were induced to place themselves in
the foretop, where they were securely lashed ; and three
or four more were bound to the shrouds beneath. The
bulk of the female passengers, however, were too much
affrighted and prostrated by the fearful experiences
through which they were passing to venture from the
deck.
About half-past nine o'clock, the steamer was struck
by a tremendous sea. The hull yielded to the irresistible
blow, and parted abaft the mainmast. The force of the
waves swung the fore part and larger portion of
the vessel completely round until it was left in a position
with the bow breasting the waves. At this time the
whole of those on board were on the larger portion of the
vessel. The second-class cabin was on the deck, and the
top of it formed what was known as the bridge or "look-
out." Affording as it did a place of refuge from the
breakers which poured incessantly upon the doomed
vessel, it became crowded by female passengers and a
portion of the crew. All were tightly lashed to the rails
by which the sides were guarded. But a terrific breaker
swept the entire structure, with its shrieking occupants,
into the sea, where they all perished.
January I
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
19
The survivors in other parts of the vessel had taken
refuge in the fore and main rigging, whence several of
them were washed into the sea. The same fate befel
two of the women who had been lashed to the shrouds,
while another, unable to bear up against the exposure
and hardships of that terrible trial, expired from
exhaustion.
About five o'clock next morning the sea had suffi-
ciently fallen to permit a resumption of the exertions
to save the survivors. Three rockets were fired before
a communication with the vessel was established. This
time those on board made the warp fast to the mast-
head, by which means it was kept out of the angry
surf, and the incline materially facilitated the working
of the cradle. Soon all was ready for recommencing the
work of rescue, and in a few minutes afterwards the whole
of the survivors were brought safely to land.
There were lost, in all, about twenty-six lives ; and
with the other disasters which occurred at the harbour's
mouth during that memorable night, the catalogue of
mortality was swollen to between thirty and forty.
There has since been no such lamentable experience
in the history of Tyne navigation, the great improve-
ments effected by the enterprise of the River Com-
missioners having largely contributed to the greater im-
munity from fatal disaster which is now enjoyed, while
the brave members of the Tyneraouth Volunteer Life
Brigade, which owes its origin to the wreck of the
Stanley, are ever ready to render assistance when neces-
sity arises.
The sketch of the wreck which accompanies this article
is taken from a painting by Mr. J. W. Swift, a local
artist of the time.
(Cite
j|HE whole surface of the globe, so far as it
has been inhabited and explored by man,
is supposed to have been infested more or
less in former times, if not still, by super-
natural beings of one sort or another. Some of these
sprites have been held to be beneficent, others malig-
nant, others again only mischievous or tricksy. Some
seem to have been thought ubiquitous, if not omni-
present, or at least able to appear, or capable of being
called up, at any time or place ; while others are local
goblins, frequenting particular spots, and never wandering
beyond certain narrow limits. The counties of Durham
and Northumberland are popularly believed to have
abounded as much as any known region with these crea-
tures of the imagination, which have not even yet been
all forced to flee away by the spread of secular know-
ledge. The Brownie and Dobie, the Brown Man of the
Moors, Redcap, Dunnip, Hob Headless, Silky, the Cauld
Lad of Hilton, the Picktree Brag, are all local sprites of
more or less celebrity, haunting particular spots, and
varied in characteristics. The Hedhy Kow is not one of
the least famous of the number.
According to all accounts, this Kow was a "bogie,"
mischievous rather than malignant, which haunted the
village of Hedley, near Ebchester. Some uncertainty pre-
vails as to the precise locality here indicated; for there are
at least four Hedleys within a short distance of the old
Roman station on the Derwent, viz., Hedley, near
ilickley, in the parish of Whittonstall ; Black Hedley,
near Eddy's Bridge— both in Northumberland ; Hedley,
or Hedley Hall, on the skirts of Blackburn Fell, formerly
a great waste, in the parish of Lamesley ; and Hedley
Hope, near Cornsay, in the parish of Lanchester— the
two last in the county of Durham. Whichever of these
four neighbourhoods was that haunted by the Kow, it is
perhaps impossible now to tell. Neither, in fact, does it
matter very much, as the localities are only a few miles
from each other, with only the river Derwent intervening.
One thing all are agreed on, the Kow did nobody any
serious injury, but merely took delight in frightening
people.
To whomsoever he appeared, lie usually ended his
frolics with a hoarse laugh at their fear or astonsihment,
after he had played them some sorry trick. To an old
woman, for instance, gathering sticks, like Goody Blake,
by the hedge side, if not actually out of the hedge, he
would sometimes appear as a "fad" or truss of straw,
lying on the road. If, as was natural, the dame was
tempted to take possession of this "fad," her load in
carrying it home would become so heavy that she would
be obliged to lay it down. The straw would then appear
as if "quick," the truss would rise upright like the
patriarch Joseph's sheaf, and away it would shuffle
before her along the road, swinging first to one
side and then to another. Every now and then
it would set up a laugh, or give a shout, in the
manner of a rustic dancer when he kicks his heels and
snaps his fingers at the turn of the tune ; and at last, with
a sound like a rushing wind, it would wholly vanish from
her sight.
Two men belonging to Newlands, on the left bank of
the Derwent, opposite Ebchester — a place now rendered
famous in connection with the mysterious person who
claimed to be Countess of Derwentwater — went out one
night about the beginning of the present century to meet
their sweethearts. On arriving at the appointed place,
they saw, as they supposed, the two girls walking at a
short distance before them. The girls continued to walk
onwards for two or three miles, and the young men to
follow without being able to overtake them. They
quickened their pace, but still the girls kept before them ;
and at length, when the pair found themselves up to their
knees in a mire, the girls suddenly disappeared with a
most unfeminine ha, ha, ha ! The young men now per-
20
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
I January
ceived that they had been beguiled by the Hedley Kow.
After getting clear of the bog, they ran homeward as fast
as their legs could carry them, while the boggle followed
close at their heels, hooting and laughing. In crossing
the Derwent, between Ebchester and Hamsterley Hall,
the one who took the lead fell down in the water, and his
companion, who was not far behind, tumbled over him.
In their panic, each mistook the other for the Kow, and
loud were their cries of terror as they rolled over each
other in the stream. They, however, managed to get out
separately, and, on reaching home, each told a painful
tale of having been chased by the Hedley Kow.
A farmer of the name of Forster, who lived near
Hedley, went out into 'the field very early one morning,
as he intended driving into Newcastle, so as to be there as
soon as the shops were opened. In the dim twilight, he
caught, as he believed, his own grey horse, and harnessed
it with his own hands. But, after yoking the beast to the
cart and getting upon the shaft to drive away, the horse
(which was not a horse at all, but the Kow) slipped away
from the limmers, setting up a great "nicker" as he
flung up his heels and scoured away "like mad" out of
the farmyard.
The Kow was a perfect plague to the servant girls at
farm houses all round the Fell. Sometimes he would call
them out of their beds by imitating their lovers at the
window. At other times, during their absence, he would
overturn the kail pot, open the milk house door and invite
the cat to lap the cream, let down "steeks" in the
stockings they had been knitting, or put their spinning-
wheel out of order. Many a time, taking the shape of
a favourite cow, he would lead the milkmaid a long chase
round the field before he would allow himself to be caught ;
and, after kicking and "rowting" during the whole milking
time, " as if the de'il was in Hawkie, " he would at last up-
set the pail, slip clear of the tie, give a loud bellow, and
bolt off tail on end, thus letting the girl know she had
been the sport of the Kow. This trick of his was so com-
mon that he seems to have got his name from it.
It is related that he very seldom visited the house of
mourning — a clear evidence that, demon though he was,
he was not quite destitute of sympathetic feeling. But
on the occasion of a birth he was rarely absent, either to
the eye or to the ear. Indeed, his appearance at those
times was BO common as scarcely to cause any
alarm. The man who rode for the midwife was,
however, often sadly teased by him. He would
appear, for instance, to the horse, in a lonely place, and
make him take the "reist,"or stand stock-still. Neither
whip nor spur would then force the animal past, though
the rider saw nothing. It frequently happened that
the messenger was allowed to make his way with-
out let or hindrance to the house where the " howdie "
lived, to get her safely mounted behind him on a
well-girt pillion, and to return homewards so far
with her unmolested. But as they were crossing some
stank, or fording some stream, the Kow would come up
and begin to play his cantrips, causing the horse to kick
and plunge in such a way as to dismount his double load
of messenger and midwife. Sometimes when the farmer's
wife, impatient for the arrival of the howdie, was groan-
ing in great pain, the Kow would come close to the door
or window and begin to mock her. The farmer would
rush out with a stick to drive the vile creature away,
when the weapon would be clicked out of his hand before
he was aware, and lustily applied to his own shoulders.
At other times, after chasing the boggle round the farm-
yard, he would tumble over one of his own calves, and
the Kow would be off before he could regain his feet.
One of the most ridiculous tales connected with this
mischievous sprite is thus told by Stephen Oliver in his
"Rambles in Northumberland": — "A farmer, riding
homeward late one night, observed as he approached a
lonely part of the road where the Kow used to play many
of his tricks, a person also on horseback a short distance
before him. Wishing to have company in a part of the
road where he did not like to be alone at night,
he quickened the pace of his horse. The person
whom he wished to overtake, hearing the tramp
of the horse rapidly advancing, and fearing that
he was followed by some one with an evil intention,
put spurs to his steed and set off at a gallop, an example
which was immediately followed by the horseman behind.
At this rate they continued whipping and spurring, as it
they rode for life or death, for nearly two miles, the man
who was behind calling out with all his might, ' Stop !
stop !' The person who fled, finding that his pursuer was
gaining upon him, and hearing a continued cry, the words
of which he could not make out, began to think he was
pursued by something unearthly, as no one who had a
design to rob him would be likely to make such a noise.
Determined no longer to fly from his pursuer, he pulled
up his horse, and adjured the supposed evil spirit :
' In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Ghost, who art thou ?' Instead of an evil spirit, a
terrified neighbour at once answered the question and
repeated it, ' Aa's Jemmy Brown, o' the High Fields.
Whe's thoo f "
Mr. William Henderson, in his "Notes on the Foil
Lore of the Northern Counties of England and the
Borders," institutes a comparison between the Hedley
Kow and Ben Jonson's Robin Goodfellow, the Irish
Phooka, the Scotch Water Kelpie, the Icelandic Grey
Nykkur-Horse, the Flemish Kludde, the Yorkshire
Padfoot, and other famous goblins, all of which
were believed to take a variety of shapes, appearing
sometimes like an ox, sometimes like a black dog, oc-
casionally like an ass, and at other times like a sow, a
horse, a white cat, a rabbit, a headless man, or a headless
lady.
January
L
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
21
HTft* Jbtmtrf at
j]REY STREET is generally regarded as a
noble monument to the genius of Richard
Grainger. To trace its origin we must go
back in thought to the spring of 1834, for
then it was that Mr. Grainger entered into arrangements
with the representatives of Major Anderson for the pur-
chase of the celebrated Anderson Place, at a cost of
£50,000. Other property, including the old theatre in
Mosley Street, probably cost him about £45,000 more.
Having made this costly venture, his next step was to lay
his plans for projected new streets before the Town
Council ; and this was done on March 27th of the above
named year. He desired to remove the Butcher and
Vegetable Markets, then comparatively new, and to build
on the site a magnificent thoroughfare which should co n
nect Blackett Street with Dean Street. Many were the
difficulties he had to encounter. The owners of the threat-
ened property, and other persons who had invested their
money in the neighbourhood, sang out lustily against any
change being made. Grainger was not disposed to yield
to this clamour if he could possibly help it. Accordingly,
he exhibited his plans in the Arcade on the 29th of
May. They were eagerly inspected by the public, and
obtained such general approval that about five thousand
signatures were appended to a memorial in their
favour. A counter-petition only obtained some three
hundred signatures. Expressions of approval were also
obtained from a parish meeting in St. Andrew's, the
Chamber of Commerce, and other bodies. The Council
met on the 12th of June to consider the whole question,
when, by twenty-four votes against seven, it was resolved
to treat with Grainger. On the following 15th of July,
sanction was formally given to the plans. Great were
the rejoicings when the news was made known. The
parish churches rang out merry peals ; Mr. Grainger's
workmen were regaled in the Nun's Field ; in fact, the
town was en file.
Then Grainger set to work with all his characteristic
energy. He began to lay out his new streets on the 30th
of July. The levelling of the ground was a most expen-
sive undertaking. Nearly five trillions of cubic feet of
earth had to be carted away, at a cost of upwards of
£20,000. In the course of the excavations, portions of an
ancient crucifix and a gilt spur were found, as well as a
quantity of human remains, on the supposed site of the
burial ground of St. Bartholomew's Nunnery. The work
was not without its perils. On the llth of June, 1835,
for instance, about three o'clock in the afternoon, three
houses on the south-west side of Market Street suddenly
fell with a tremendous crash whilst in course of erection.
The buildings had nearly reached their intended height
At least a hundred men were at work upon and imme-
diately around them, several of whom were precipitated
to the ground with the falling materials, and were buried
in the ruins. Many more had almost miraculous escapes
from a similar fate. As soon as the alarm had subsided,
the other workmen, upwards of seven hundred in number,
devoted themselves to the relief and rescue of the suf-
ferers. Of those disinterred, one, the foreman of the
masons, died in a few hours ; four were dead when found ;
fifteen were got out alive, but greatly injured, and two of
them died, making seven in all. Grainger himself had a
narrow escape. He had inspected the houses but a few
minutes before ; when they fell, he was standing upon the
scaffolding of the adjacent house.
Let us see if we can realise something of the general
appearance of this locality before Grainger converted it
into a palatial thoroughfare. The higher part of what is
now Grey Street was a place of solitude and retirement.
Waste ground surrounded Anderson Place. One of our
local poets has recalled the time when Novocastrians
could
Walk up the lane, and ope the Major's gate.
Pass the stone cross, and to|the Dene we come,
Then, halting by the well where angels wait
To bathe the limbs of those in palsied state,
(So saith the legend), gaze in musing mood
On the time-honoured trees where small birds mate.
Unlike the nuns, build nests and nurse their brood,
And prove that Nature's laws are tender, wise, and good.
Outside the Major's boundary there was plenty of life,
and plenty of noise, especially on Saturday nights.
Itinerant vendors indulged in their quaint cries. Women
and children (mostly the latter) sang —
Silk shoe ties, a penny a pair :
Buy them, and try them, and see hoo they wear.
Others made known their vocation by the cry : — " Good
tar-barrel matches, three bunches a penny." The air re-
resounded with the invitation : — "Nice tripe or mince to-
night, liinnies ; gud fat puddins, hinnies, smoking het, "
concerning which savoury viands the lines recur to the
veteran's memory : —
And now for black puddings, long measure,
They go to Tib Trollibags' stand ;
And away bear the glossy rich treasure,
With joy, like curl'd bugles in hand.
The side adjoining Pilgrim Street was devoted to the sale
of poultry and eggs ; that opposite, and therefore nearer
the Cloth Market, to the stalls of the greengrocers. The
intervening space was given up to the butchers, whose
shops ran in rows from north to south. These shops had
stone fronts, with tiled roofs, and an overhanging canopy
in front.
Such, then, was the general character of this part of the
good old town in the past. We may turn now to its
features in the present. Let us start from Blackett Street,
and walk quietly down to Dean Street. At once our at-
tention is arrested by the noble column usually known as
the Grey Monument. On October 6th, 1834, a. public
meeting was convened to con-ider the propriety of cum-
22
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
(January
memorating, by the erection of a statue, the services
rendered to the cause of Parliamentary Reform by the
then Earl Grey. William Ord, Esq., presided, and the
idea was unanimously approved. A sum of £500 was
subscribed in the room. On February 13th, 1836, a
model of a Roman Doric column by John Green was
adopted, to cost £1,600 ; and it was resolved to commis-
sion E. H. Baily to provide a suitable statue of the earl,
at a further cost of £700. The construction of the
column was entrusted to Joseph Welch, builder of the
Ouseburn Viaduct, and Bellingham Bridge across North
Tyne. The foundation stone was laid by Messrs. J. and
B. Green, architects, on September 6th, 1837, and the
column was finished on August llth, 1838. Baily's statue
was placed on the summit thirteen days later.
The monument is 133 feet high, and contains 164 steps
in the interior. A glass bottle, containing coins and a
parchment scroll, was deposited in the foundation stone.
The scroll records : — " The foundation stone of this
column, erected by public subscription in commemoration
of the transcendent services rendered to his country by the
Right Hon. Charles Earl Grey, Viscount Howick, Knight
of the most noble Order of the Garter, and Baronet, was
laid on the sixth day of September, one thousand eight
hundred and thirty-seven, by John Green and Benjamin
Green, Esqrs., Architects. Building Committee : — The
Rev. John Saville Ogle, of Kirkley, in the county of
Northumberland, Clerk, A.M., Prebendary of Durham ;
Edward Swinburne, of Capheaton, Esq. ; Thomas Emer-
son Headlam, of Newcastle-on-Tyne, Esq., M.D. ; John
Grey, of Dilston, Esq. ; Thomas Richard Batson, of
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Esq., and Alderman ; Armorer
Donkin, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Esq., and Alderman ;
Ralph Park Philipson, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Esq.,
and Town Councillor ; John Fenwick, of Newcastle-
upon-Tyne, Esqr. ; James Hodgson, of Newcastle-upon-
Tyne, Esq., and Alderman ; Emerson Charnley, of
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Esq., and Town Councillor."
On the exterior of the column is cut the following in-
scription : — " This Column was erected in 1838, to com-
memorate the services rendered to his country by Charles
Earl Grey, K.G., who, during an active political career of
nearly half-a-century, was the constant advocate of peace
and the fearless and consistent champion of civil and
religious liberty. He first directed his efforts to the
amendment of the representation of the people in 1792,
and was the Minister by whose advice, and under whose
guidance, the great measure of Parliamentary Reform
was, after an arduous and protracted struggle, safely
and triumphantly achieved in the year 1832."
Near the Monument is the Victoria Room, formerly used
as a music-hall. In its early days, political meetings were
occasionally held here, whereat Thomas Doubleday,
John Fife, and Charles Larkin were usually the chief
speakers. Later on, an effort was made to popularise
cheap Saturday and Monday evening concerts in this
room. Amongst others who took part in them were Mr.
William Gourlay, the talented Scotch comedian, who
sang comic songs here when the theatre, a little lower
down Grey Street, was not open ; Mr. Fourness Rolfe,
also of the same theatre ; the sisters Blake ; and Miss
Goddard, afterwards Mrs. Gourlay.
At the corner of the little lane just a step or so further
down Grey Street, the Newcastle Journal had its printing
and publishing offices at one time. Mr. John Hernaman
was the editor of this paper for some years, and got into
several scrapes owing to the violence with which he
attacked his political opponents. On one occasion he fell
foul of Mr. Larkin, who, in return, made mincemeat of
him (metaphorically) in a scathing pamphlet, entitled,
"A Letter to Fustigated John" — the word "fustigated"
being an old synonym for "whipped." It was, in fact,
Mr. Hernaman's unpleasant experience to have to endure
corporal chastisement more than once in the course of his
journalistic career. One of his whippings occurred at
the Barras Bridge. In another case, several Sunderland
men came over to Newcastle to avenge themselves for
what they considered an unfair criticism on certain of
their transactions. They suddenly burst in upon the
editorial presence, and asked Hernaman for the name of
the writer of the objectionable article. The latter
declined to furnish them with any information on the
subject. On this refusal, he was attacked with walking-
sticks and horsewhips. The case came up in due time
at the Sessions, where the defendants were "strongly
recommended to mercy on account of the very great
provocation they had received." They were each called
upon to pay a fine of £50. Fortunately, the days of such
journalistic amenities in Newcastle may be safely enough
regarded as over now for good.
Across the way is the Central Exchange Hotel, with its
handsome dining-room, its rooms for commercial tra-
vellers, &c.; and on our left hand there is another of a
similar character, also devoted to commercial men and
their customers, named the Royal Exchange. The latter
is at the corner of Hood Street, so called after an alder-
man of that name. In this street is the Central Hall,
used for Saturday evening concerts, teetotal gatherings,
and revival meetings. It was originally a Methodist New
Connexion chapel, in which Joseph Barker used at one
period of his career to hold forth to large congregations.
Passing Hood Street and Market Street, we come to
the Theatre Royal, the successor of the establishment
in Mosley Street. The portico of the Theatre Royal is a
striking feature of the street, though unfortunately
it remains incomplete to this day. The design is
taken from the Pantheon at Rome. Six noble Corinthian
columns, with richly executed capitals, support the pedi-
ment, in the tympanum of which it a sculpture of the
royal arms, the work of a Newcastle artist who died all
too soon for the ripening of bis fame. This work of his
has often won the approval of critics in such matters. It
January!
1889. )
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
23
is here that the Theatre Royal front has been suffered to
remain unfinished, for it was orignally intended to
place a statue of Mrs. Siddons as the Tragic
Muse (after Sir Joshua Reynolds's famous pour-
trayal of that great actress), on the top of the
pediment. The building was opened in 1837, under
the management of Mr. Penley, with an address from
the pen of Thomas Doubleday, the "Merchant of
Venice," and an ephemeral afterpiece. The house has
remained a popular home of the drama ever since.
Most of the great players of their day have fretted
and strutted their little hour on this stage ; and some
of them laid the foundation of their future fame and
fortune here. Macready (who first appeared in the old
theatre at the foot of the street, of which his father
was manager for about twelve years) was always a
Newcastle favourite, alike in his youth and in his
prime. He says himself of his first appearance
here: "I was warmly received, and the partiality
with which my early essays were encouraged
seemed to increase in fervour to the very last
night, when I made my farewell bow to a later
generation." The great tragedian appeared on March
15th, 1850, as Cardinal Wolsey (in "Henry VIII.")
and as Lord Townley (in the "Provoked Husband,"
by Vanbrugh and Cibber). After playing these parts,
Macready delivered his farewell address to his New-
castle friends. In the course of it he said: "When
I retrace the years that have made me old in acquaint-
ance and familiar here, and recount to myself the many
unforgotten evidences of kindly feeling towards me,
which through these years have been without stint or
check so lavishly afforded, I must be cold and insensible
indeed if time could so have passed without leaving deep
traces of its events upon my memory and my heart.
From the summer of 1810, when, scarcely out of the
years of boyhood, I was venturing here the early and
the ruder essays of my art, I date the commencement of
that favourable regard which has been continued to me
through all my many engagements, without change or
fluctuation, up to the present time."
Samuel Phelps and James Anderson, two of Macready 's
trusty lieutenants in his great Covent Garden enterprise,
have frequently played here with acceptance. So has
Charles Kean, who, by the way, was hissed in Hamlet
on his first appearance in that character in Newcastle,
and cut up by the newspapers afterwards. He went,
much astonished, to the manager. " Good gracious, Mr.
Ternan, they've hissed me ; what on earth have I done ?"
"Well, Mr. Kean, you've cut out altogether the lines
beginning," &c. " Good gracious !" rejoined the dis-
comfited tragedian, "who could ever have thought they
would know Shakspeare so well down here !" " Oh, yes,
Mr. Kean," answered Ternan, quietly, "they know their
Shakspeare here, I can assure you." Ternan was a very
able Shaksperian actor himself.
George Bennett and James Bennett were, among other
popular tragedians, here in their younger days; and
Barry Sullivan was always a warm favourite. Of
comedians, Charles Mathews, Buckatone and his cele-
brated Haymarket company, Sothern (Lord Dundreary),
Toole, and others, have fulfilled successful engagements
in the Theatre Royal. Salvini has acted on the Royal
boards also, as have Madame Ristori and Madame
Sarah Bernhardt. Of our own queens of the stage since
1837, nearly all have appeared here at one time or
another ; but it is such an invidious task to pick and
choose amongst them, that we are fain to shrink from it
altogether. It would be very unfair not to make mention
of the many years of managerial toil given to this stage
by the late Mr. E. D. Davis, for, by common consent of
all qualified to judge, he was ever, as actor, as artist,
and as manager, a gentleman. Since his retirement, this
house has been under the direction of Messrs. W. H.
Swanborough, Glover and Francis, Charles Bernard, and
Howard and Wyndham, who are the present lessees.
Be the day far distant when the Newcastle drama, with
all its honourable records, shall, to use Lord Tennyson's
words —
Flicker down to brainless pantomime,
And those gilt-gauds men-children bwarm to see !
Probably this house held its largest receipts on Sept. 20,
1848, when Jenny Lind appeared in "La Sonnambula."
The prices were :— Dress boxes, £1 lls. 6d. ; upper boxes
and pit, £1 Is. ; gallery, 10s. 6d. The receipts amounted
to upwards of £1,100. Sims Reeves and Madame Gassier,
Grisi, and Mario, and all the great operatic stars have
appeared here. Sims Reeves, indeed, came out on tht
Newcastle boards. Our sturdy fathers hissed him too.
They stood no nonsense in those days, either from a
Charles Kean or anybody else.
The Theatre, Grey Street, itself, and indeed all the
streets and buildings in Newcastle, presented a strange
appearance on the morning of March 3, 1886, owing to a
great fall of snow on the previous day and night. Our
artist's sketch of the scene will convey a better idea of it
than any mere description.
Passing by Shakspeare Street, we find ourselves about
to cross the High Bridge, which is another intersecting
thoroughfare, running from Pilgrim Street to the Bigg
Market. There is nothing specially remarkable about it,
save that at least one somewhat remarkable man of his
day has associated his name with it. James Murray, for
so was he called, studied for the ministry, but he could
not obtain ordination to any pastoral charge by reason of
his peculiar views on church government. He came to
Newcastle in 1764, and found friends who built him a
chapel. And here he remained, preached, and laboured,
until his death in 1782, in the fiftieth year of his age.
The titles of some of his published discourses afford some
indication as to his character. Amongst them are
"Sermons to Awes." "New Sermons to Asses." "An
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NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
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MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
1889.
old Fox Tarred and Feathered," and "News from the
Pope to the DeviL" On one occasion he gave the
authorities a fright, and seems to have got frightened
himself into 'the bargain. Thus runs the story. He
announced his intention of preaching a sermon from
the text, " He that hath not a sword, let him sell
his garment and buy one." Those responsible for the
peace of the town, knowing their man, grew rather afraid
when they heard of this ominous text. They sent some
of the town's sergeants to form a portion of the congre-
gation. All passed off quietly, as it happened ; but then
it occurred to Murray that he had better find out how he
really stood in regard to the powers that were. Forth-
with he went up to London, and called on Lord Mans-
field, the then Chief-Justice. He obtained for his
application the conventional reply: "Not at home."
" Tell him," was the sturdy rejoinder, " that a Scotch
parson, of the name of Murray, from Newcastle, wants
to see him." He was admitted. What passed at the
interview ? We can only guess from the judge's last
words, quoting a simile in the Book of Job : " You just
get away by the skin o' your teeth. "
In 1780 — the year of the Gordon riots in London, so
vividly depicted in Dickens's "Barnaby Rudge," the
year when there was danger of a general attack on the
Roman Catholics — Murray w;is to the fore again. In
that year there was a contested election in Newcastle.
Murray proposed a sort of test, or pledge, to each of the
candidates — aimed, of course, at the religionists, with
whom he had waged a life-long war. Sir Matthew
White Ridley would have nothing to do with it. Even
Andrew Robinson Bowes, who was never in the habit of
sticking at trifles, vowed that "he would be blessed"—
only that was not quite the exact word ! — " if he gave
anything of the sort." The third candidate, Sir Thomas
Delaval, gave the required pledge; but he was unsuc-
cessful at the poll.
We might add more concerning this curious cleric,
but content ourselves with relating two anecdotes
which reveal him on his better side. The first is, that,
being on the highway leading to Newcastle on a rainy
day, he overtook a labouring man who had no coat.
He himself had two. He took one off, and put it on
the wayfarer's back, with the remark: "It's a pity I
should have two coats and you none; it's not fair."
The second refers to an incident which occurred in his
chapel here, A Scotch drover turned into the place one
Sunday rather late, and was content to stand. Nobody
offered him a seat. Murray waxed wroth. "Seat that
man," thundered he; "if he'd had a powdered head,
and a fine coat on his back, you'd have had twenty pews
open ! "
The remainder of Grey Street, though made up of
noble buildings, calls for little notice. In 1838, one of
them was occupied by a Mrs. Bell, who kept it as a board-
ing house. One of h<r boarders was Mr. James Wilkie,
who at the time held the office of house-surgeon and secre-
tary to the Newcastle Dispensary. In a fit of temporary
insanity this poor man threw himself out of an upstairs
window, and injured himself so dreadfully that he died
shortly afterwards. This victim of an o'erwrought brain
had been connected with the institution for fifteen years.
That he was held in general respect in Newcastle may be
gathered from the fact that about a thousand persons
followed his coffin to its grave in Westgate Hill Ceme-
tery, where a monument was erected to his memory.
Amongst other establishments on the east side of Grey
Street is that of the Messrs. Finney and Walker, whose
premises were for many years the publishing office of
the Newcastle Chronicle. Opposite is a noble pile, now the
Branch Bank of England.
Nobody can take a thoughtful glance at the thorough-
fare we have been traversing without admitting that it is
a masterpiece of street architecture : a monument to the
genius of the two men principally concerned in designing
and erecting it — John Dobson and Richard Grainger.
d at $crrtftumlmir.
THE ROMAN INVASION.
[| HEN travelling through the picturesque
stretch of country that lies between Tyne-
dale and the Tweed, and noting its many
indications of marvellous prosperity, it is
difficult to realize that its verdant hills ana smiling
valleys were ever less peaceful than they now are. And
yet, if the whole island was searched from Cornwall to
Caithness, there could be found few districts that have
undergone greater changes, or played a more conspicuous
part in the national history. In pre-Roman times, much
of the surface of Northumberland was covered with bogs
and marshes, and much more with dense and almost
impenetrable forests. Its inhabitants were the Ottadini
—a fierce and warlike tribe of the Brigantes — who have
left their hill forts, their weapons, and their tumuli, as
the sole evidences of their constructive skill. When
Caesar's hordes invaded Britain, fifty years before the
Christian era, they were never able to penetrate these
Northern wilds. Their accounts of the people with
whom they did come in contact, however, furnish material
from which a very fair estimate of the local settlers can
be formed. The men, they tell us, were tall, strong, and
active ; the women fair, well-featured, and finely-shaped.
Both sexes gloried in a profusion of red or chesnut-
coloured hair, and their favourite method of adornment
was by a process of painting, or tatooing, not unlike that
practised by many savage races in our own day. Their
robes, too, when robed at all, consisted entirely of skins ;
their oft-moved huts were little better than nests of
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
27
boughs and reeds ; and their time, when not engaged in
fighting, was usually devoted to the exciting pleasures of
the chase. Cattle were extensively reared as a means of
subsistence ; but, except along the coast lines, there was
no effort made to till the land or to encourage the growth
of corn or other grain.
ARMS AND DEFENCES OF THE BUTTONS.
Such, in brief, is the picture which old chroniclers give
of the appearance and habits of the Britons. It is abun-
dantly sufficient for our purpose, as we desire to deal
only with the warlike attributes of this primitive people,
and to point out the methods by which they sought to
check the advance of our earliest invaders. When the
well-disciplined legions of Rome first secured a footing,
they found the southern portion of the country very
thickly populated. The natives were as courageous as
they were fierce, and defended their woodland settle-
ments by deep trenches and highly piled barricades
of fallen timber. They were swift of foot, as well as
expert swimmers, and these qualities— together with
their skill in crossing fens and marshes — enabled them to
pounce suddenly upon their adversaries, and as suddenly
to disappear with the spoil. Their ordinary arms con-
sisted of a small dagger and spear ; but, in war times, these
were augmented by a light shield, by long and heavily-
bladed swords of bronze, and by javelins which they could
throw with great accuracy and effect. These latter mis-
siles were not lost by the act of propulsion, as they were
attached to the wrist by leather thongs, and could be
drawn back to the thrower as soon as their mark had
been reached. At the lower end of this curious dart was
a round, hollow ball, stocked with pieces of metal, and the
noise caused by the flight of this alarming rattle — added
to the exciting cries and antics of the gaily-stained
warriors — has rendered many a well-meant attack of the
Roman foe inoperative.
THE CHARIOT AND ITS USES.
But by far the most famous of British implements of
war was the chariot. It was drawn by a couple of small,
wiry, and perfectly trained horses, and afforded space for
two or three fighting men, as well as for a driver. The
body of the vehicle was a combination of strength and
lightness, »nd at the extremity of its stout axles were
fixed scythes or hooks for slashing and tearing whatever
came in their way. They could be driven at immense
speed, even over the roughest country, and were usually
of most use at the commencement of a battle. While
dashing madly about the flanks of an opposing lorce,
their occupants would throw their terrible darts with
great adroitness, and the very dread of this onslaught not
unfrequently broke the ranks of Caesar's finest troops.
When they had succeeded in making an impression on
the advancing foe, and saw their way for a joint attack,
the Britons leapt from their chariots, formed into a
solid and compact body, and fought on foot with all
their accustomed intrepidity. The drivers, meanwhile,
withdrew the chariots from the strife, and took up
positions which would best favour the retreat of their
masters if the tide of battle should roll against them.
" In this manner," says Caesar, " they performed the part
both of rapid cavalry and of steady infantry." "By
constant exercise and use," he adds, " they have acquired
such expertness that they can stop their horses in the
most steep and difficult places — when at full speed — turn
them whichever way they please, run along the carriage
pole, rest on the harness, and throw themselves back into
their chariots with incredible dexterity." It is worthy of
note that the great leader makes no reference to the cruel
accessories which are said to have adorned the axles of
these vehicles. This omission has caused many writers
to doubt whether such instruments of torture were ever in
existence. It is impossible, of course, to speak positively
on such a matter ; but it is well to remember that similar
appliances have been used in other lands, and that our
own museums contain relics — from more than one British
battle field — which antiquaries think could hardly have
been used for any other purpose than that described.
MILITABT KNOWLEDGE OF THE NATIVES.
In tactics and strategical skill, the natives displayed
considerable talent. When in readiness for the fray, the
infantry — in wedge-shape formation— occupied the centre ;
the cavalry and the chariots constituted the right and left
wings; and at the rear were strong bodies of reserves.
They were quite alive to the importance of harassing an
enemy before delivering the chief attack, and were fully
impressed with the necessity of a well-executed move-
ment on the hostile flanks. They were formidable adver-
saries in every way, and if their weapons had been of a
better quality— not made of bronze that bent beneath a
heavy stroke— it is quite possible that the first Roman in-
28
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
{January
1889.
vasion might not have been repeated. As it was, indeed,
Csesar never made any great headway, and could only
maintain himself with difficulty in localities that ad-
joined the coast. In the language of Tacitus, he was " a
discoverer rather than a conqueror," and even his dis-
coveries, in these islands at least, were not far reaching.
THE RETURN OP THE ROMANS.
But if Csesar made little impression on the Britons, he
carried away reports which were well calculated to arouse
the ambition of his successors. Nearly a century elapsed
before the Romans again undertook the work of subjuga-
tion ; but they were then better prepared, came in greater
numbers, and set about their task with such care and
deliberation that a speedy conquest seemed assured. It
is not necessary to follow the fluctuating fortunes of their
numerous campaigns in the South. From the landing of
Aulus Plautius in A.D. 43, down to the advent of Julius
Agricola in 78, bloodshed seldom, if ever, ceased. There
were terrific struggles with the Silures under Caractacus,
and with the Iceni under Boadecia. There were furious
onslaughts upon the Druids of Anglesea and the Brigantes
across the Humber. Fire and sword went hand in hand,
and the track of war was followed by famine and disease.
Victory was not always with the assailants ; but whether
they lost or won at the commencement, they always ended
by bringing the natives under their yoke.
AGRICOLA ON THE TYNE.
It is with the coming of Agricola that we get our first
records concerning the district that constitutes the pre-
sent county of Northumberland. There is an absence of
detail about many of the recitals ; but they will serve,
perhaps, to throw a little lifrht on the condition of the
North Country and its occupants at a very remote period.
The famous chieftain we have named was as skilful in the
arts of peace as in those of war. He had served under
Seutonius Faulinus against the "Warrior Queen,"
and was greatly beloved by his army. Under his able
guidance the fortunes of Rome underwent a marvellous
change. Deserted posts were recovered, refractory tribes
were punished, and an attempt was made to bring the con-
quered people into greater harmony with their masters.
While this work was proceeding in the southern province,
Agricola marched north of the Humber, gained victory
after victory, and ultimately found himself face to face
with the brawny races near the higher reaches of the
Tyne. There is no absolute record of early battles in this
district, but it is fair to suppose that the Ottadini — like
the Brigantes of Yorkshire and Lancashire, and the
Gadeni of Cumberland and Westmoreland — would be dis-
persed to their mountain retreats, and that Agricola
would then, according to his invariable custom, protect the
acquired territory by throwing up strongly entrenched
works for the accommodation of his soldiers.
THE UNSUCCESSFUL FIGHT WITH (JALGACUS.
By the spring of 81 — having ensured the safety of his
communications — the Roman leader was ready for a
further advance, and he began his march northward with
every confidence in the ultimate triumph of his army.
While traversing the open country, he was practically
unassailable, but at the river fords, and amid the moun-
tain passes, his progress was disputed with all the obsti-
nacy that a clever and courageous foe could devise.
Many an entrenched hill top in Coquetdale and Glendale
had to be stormed before the invaders could proceed,
and as the conflict in every case was at close quar-
ters— with the Britons in possession of the best
ground— the assailants lost enormous numbers of their
men ere even the Cheviots were reached. In the end,
the defenders were always compelled to give way ; and,
being then driven before Agricola's dashing legions, they
were put out of harm's way behind the line of forts he
erected between the Firth of Forth and the River Clyde.
Having, by the summer of 83, completed this under-
taking, the Roman leader renewed his journey towards
the Highlands, and everything seemed to indicate that bis
pevious successes would be continued. He was no sooner
out of sight, however, than the Caledonians descended
from their hill strongholds, swarmed over his defences,
and, in a night surprise, managed to annihilate one of his
divisions. Returning with all speed, Agricola attacked
his daring assailants, and succeeded in beating them.
But the damage they inflicted upon bis troops and earth-
works, precluded all attempts at further advance, and he
was compelled to winter in a very inhospitable region.
The campaign recommenced with the fine weather of 84 ;
but as 30,000 natives, under the heroic Galgacus, had
posted themselves on a well chosen spur of the Grampians,
it was necessary at once to dislodge them. After a fierce
and destructive battle, the Romans carried the position,
and inflicted terrible losses on their retreating foe. But,
though defeated, the Northenera contrived to check
the foreign advance. When morning dawned, the in-
vaders saw only a silent and deserted land. Their late
adversaries had disappeared as if by magic, and left
nothing behind them but smoke and flame and ruin.
With a crippled army and straitened supplies, it would
have been extremely hazardous to penetrate into the hill
country, and Agricola found himself compelled to relin-
quish his enterprise. He returned by easy stages to; the
January!
1SS9- I
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
29
entrenchments he had left on Tyneside, and there, putting
his troops into cantonments, he threw that mighty
earthen rampart across the country — from Wallsend to
the Solway Firth — which has been a source of specula-
tion and wonder through all succeeding ages. His cam-
paigns had taught him that it was much easier to march
through a poverty-stricken district than to remain in it,
and he fondly hoped, by his famous barrier, to confine the
infuriated Northmen within the boundaries of their own
desolate wilds.
HADRIAN'S WALL.
So seriously had Agicola's inroads crippled the native
tribes, that it required thirty years to rehabilitate their
shattered forces. In the reign of Hadrian, however, they
recommenced hostilities, and attacked the Roman garri-
sons all along their line. Matters had become so serious
in 120, that the energetic Emperor journeyed with all
haste to this country, and did everything in his power to
quell the rebellious spirit that had been engendered. He
was successful in restoring the wavering allegiance of the
Yorkshire Brigantes, and tried to accomplish a similar
result among the tribes on the Borderland ; but all his
efforts to gain ascendency over the Ottadini and their
Caledonian allies proved abortive. It thus happened that
the Clyde line of forts was demolished, that the country
for a hundred miles to the southward had to be abandoned
by the invaders, and that the conquests of Agricola were
rendered useless. To more effectually protect his remain-
ing possessions, therefore, Hadrian spanned the country
with a second and more formidable line of works, on a site
closely adjoining the mound of his predecessor. It was
evidently the intention of the Romans, at this period, to
make the Tyne their northern boundary, and they would
have been saved endless trouble if they had adhered to
their resolve. But different commanders had different
ideas. Lollius Urbicus — one of the great captains of
Antoninus Pius — advanced from the wall in 138, and,
slowly fighting his way, carried the Roman banner once
more to the Forth. Having connected that river with
the Clyde — by means of an earthen bank and a score of
strong redoubts — he conceived that Northumberland and
the Scottish Lowlands had been permanently won. The
tribesmen declined to so understand it. In 183, they
again broke through the Scottish barrier, assaulted the
forts, and — after several sanguinary encounters with the
column sent to the relief of the beleaguered garrisons —
compelled the Roman legions to seek safety beyond their
southern defences.
BEVERUS AND HIS SUCCESSORS.
The "barbarians" — as the Ottadini were called— had
matters pretty much in their own hands until the arrival
of the Emperor Severus in 207. Though suffering badly
from the gout and other maladies, this aged warrior
gathered his forces, and led them with a vindictive heart
towards the disputed land. But the tremendous
difficulties he encountered, on passing the vallum of
Hadrian, show very clearly that the country had nevei
been altogether under foreign control. There was an
absence of really good roads, the rivers were unspanned,
and large tracts of wood and morass were almost impass-
able wildernesses. Every inch of the invaders' progress
was disputed. Though not sufficiently numerous to risk
a pitched battle, the natives contrived to commit in-
calculable mischief. Their intercourse with the Romans
had already taught them the value of metal head-gear
and shoulder guards, and, with such protections, they
were able to maintain a succession of skirmishes and
flank attacks that were as irritating as they were
destructive. When aided, later, by their old allies of the
Scottish Lowlands, the resistance they offered would
have deterred a less valiant enemy. But Severus was un-
daunted, and doggedly plodded on. What with regular
fighting, losses in ambuscades, and sickness caused by
unceasing labour in draining bogs, cutting down forests,
bridging rivers, and constructing solid travelling ways,
his force is said to have been reduced by 50,000 men. In
spite of all obstacles, however, he succeeded in reaching
a more northerly point than any of his predecessors, and
eventually struck such terror into the native hordes that
they were driven to sue for peace. With the exception
of this solitary result, the campaign was as barren as any
that had gone before. Of this fact the Emperor himself
was thoroughly convinced. He realised — reluctantly, it
may be— that the debateable land between the Tyne and
the north could never be permanently held by his
legions ; and his first care, on his return southward, was
to supplement the earthworks of Hadrian and Agricola
with a strong and formidable wall of solid stone. It
would serve no useful purpose to describe the Tyneside
works in detail ; but it may be interesting to explain the
nature of the operations which the Romans from time to
time carried out. According to the account of William
Hutton, there were really four barriers. The defences of
4 ar ic ola, hadTian &ev-erus
& ^-fs\
Agricola consisted of a double rampart of earth, having a
ditch so planned as to cause a rise for the assailants of
nearly 20 feet. To further strengthen this obstacle,
Hadrian deepened the ditch, and, with the soil so ob-
tained, constructed a third mound, 10 feet high, a little
more to the northward. These all ran in parallel lines.
When Severus, as we have stated, conceived the idea of a
still mere formidable structure, he raised a barrier of
stone. It was 8 feet thick and 12 feet high, with an addi-
tional elevation of 4- feet for the battlements. Added to
this, at equal distances, were a number of stations or
towns, 81 castles, and 330 turrets— all connected by good
wide roads, along which troops could move from one
threatened point to another with the greatest facility.
30
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
January
But for fear all these impediments should prove insuffi-
cient, the north front was protected by a tremendous
ditch alone its whole course. Having a span of 30 feet,
and a depth of 15, it is not surprising that the military
chiefs should have regarded their last effort as insur-
mountable. As long as ever the Roman supremacy
lasted, this line of defence was constantly garrisoned by
many thousands of armed men ; but for 130 years after
the death of its valiant founder — if we except an abortive
raid by Constantius Chlorus — there was no attempt made
to leave its protecting shelter.
WILLIAM LONOSTAFF.
The first illustration shows the sword, dagger, and
spear-head in use amongst the Britons, as well as the
hooks that are supposed to have been attached to their
chariots. These latter were sketched from specimens in
the British Museum, and clearly indicate the effects of
corrosion from their long sojourn in the ground. — No. 2
eives the generally accepted notion of an ancient chariot
and shield. — No. 3 is the ground plan of a British fort
near Hepple, in Coquetdale. It shows three lines of
entrenchments, at varying heights, round the sides of a
commanding hill ; while at the summit may be seen the
excavations that were commonly used as store-rooms or
places of shelter. — No. 4- shows in a rough form the sec-
tions of the barriers erected by Agricola, Hadrian, and
Severus.
£tatt
Case.
j|R. BARON PARKE heard an extraordinary
case at the Northumberland Assizes on the
28th of February, 1855. From the magnitude
of the claim and the romantic story raised on behalf of the
plaintiff, it caused an intense amount of interest, not only
in the North of England, but throughout the country,
and more particularly in Lincolnshire. The claimant and
plaintiff was William Stote Manby, a gardener of Kiln
Yard, Louth, a man in a most humble walk in life.
Mr. Samuel Warren, Q.C., the author of that then
popular standard novel "Ten Thousand a Year," was
leading counsel for the claimant, and it was said at the
time that he undertook the case gratuitously.
The plaintiff claimed to be heir-at-law of Mrs. Dorothy
Windsor, a widow, before her marriage Miss Dorothy
Stole, spinster, daughter of Sir Richard Stote, Knight,
Sergeant-at-Law. As such heir-at-law he sought to re-
cover extensive estates in Northumberland. The de-
fendants were Thomas Wood Craster, Esq., and Calverley
Bewicke Bewicke, Esq., and others, their tenants. The
first two defendants were sued as the representatives of
Sir Robert Bewicke and Mr. John Craster, tenants of the
estates prior to 1780.
The value of the estates claimed by the Louth gardener
was stated to be about £50, 000 a-year; but probably this
was an exaggeration. They comprised, however, the greater
part of the hamlet and extra-parochial chapelry of Kirk-
heaton, near Belsay, including Kirkheaton Hall, the
living of the chapelry, and a land-sale colliery ; an estate
adjoining Howdon Pans, in the parish of Wallsend, of
about 297 acres, the coals under which were sent to Lon-
don Market under the name of " Bewicke and Oraster's
Wallsend " ; an estate in the adjoining parish of Long
Benton ; and an inn called the Coach and Six Horses.
The estates altogether were stated to consist of about
4,000 acres, with valuable mines below.
The plaintiff sought for a declaration that he was heir-
at-law of Dame Dorothy Windsor (who died, aged 84, in
1756, in Upper Brook Street, London, possessed of the
above-named properties, which were known as the
"Windsor Estates"), and also heir-at-law of his grand-
father, Stote Manby, who died intestate in 1780, leaving
William Mauby, of Louth, his only son and heir-at-law,
who died in 1809, leaving two sons, Richard and the
plaintiff, but Richard had died a bachelor in 1820. The
plaintiff claimed that he was entitled to the manors, here-
ditaments, and premises of which Dame Dorothy Windsor
died seized, and asked that it might be declared that he
had been kept out of possession of the estates by col-
lusion and fraud, that the defendants were not entitled
to avail themselves of the Statute of Limitations, and
that possession of the property might be delivered up
free from incumbrances.
Mr. Warren entered fully into all the circumstances of
this extraordinary case with great clearness, ability, and
eloquence, which enhanced the interest and excitement in
Court. He recounted the biography of the plaintiff's
grandfather, Stote Manby, the original heir-at-law, who
was a very illiterate man, unable to read or to write even
his own name, a day labourer or carter, who during
his later days was supported by his wife's labour and
the casual charity of his neighbours, and who lived all his
life in a wretched mud hovel, scarcely fit for human habi-
tation, in the village of Keddington, near Louth. It
was explained that William Manby (the plaintiff's father)
was born in 1747, and resembled his father in mental
incapacity, and in being unable to read or write his
own name ; that plaintiff's brother (Richard) was also
very poor, and, until he died, unmarried, worked for his
daily bread ; that all these members of the plaintiff's
family had lived and died in total ignorance of their title
by inheritance to the Windsor Estates; and that the
plaintiff only first became aware of his rights in 1846,
when he was told by a very old man, living in Louth,
that a trial was heard at Newcastle-on-Tyne, in 1781,
which showed that his grandfather, Stote Manby, was heir
to the wealthy Dame Dorothy Windsor, but being of weak
mind had been kept out of the property unlawfully. The
plaintiff's story was that Sir Robert Bewicke and Mr.
John Craster, being tenants, retained undisputed posses-
sion of the estates from 1756 (the time of Dame Dorothy
Windsor's death) until 1780, " most unrighteously and
cruelly" taking advantage of poor Stote Manby's in-
capacity ; that one Harvey, an attorney, came down
January
\
;
NORTH-COUNTRY L-O&E AND LEGEND.
to Louth in 1780, and undertook to be Stota Manby'a
lawyer ; that Harvey commenced actions which were
defended on the grounds, first, that Dorothy Windsor
was not seized of the estates, and, secondly, that Stote
Manby was not her cousin and heir ; that in 1781 an
action was tried at Newcastle, before Mr. Justice Nares
and Mr. Justice Heath,* in which Stote Manby's heirship
was established by a verdict of the jury ; that on
the day after his trial a second action was called on
as to another portion of the property, but that by
fraud and connivance no trial took place, Harvey having
been prevailed upon to abandon the action and enter into
a compromise, the effect of which was to secure to the
then plaintiff, Stote Manby, and his heirs, a rent charge
of £300 a year, leaving the defendants of 1781 in quiet
possession.
The object of the trial in 1855 was to unravel all these
proceedings, as well as any subsequent transactions that
had taken place, and to put the plaintiff, William Stote
Manby, on a verdict being given in his favour, in posses-
sion of the whole of the Windsor estates. Before, how-
ever, Mr. Warren had proceeded far with his opening
of the case he was stopped by Mr. Baron Parke, who
stated that he considered the Statute of Limitations
barred all title on the part of the plaintiff. Mr. Warren,
therefore, having no alternative, consented to be non-
suited.
What became of the annuity or rent charge which
Messrs. Craster and Bewicke granted to old Stote
Manby, when (as above alleged) he resigned his claim in
1781, does not appear.
The case (after the non-suit) was carried into the Court
of Chancery. The defendants demurred for want of
equity, and relied on the Statute of Limitations. The
preliminary process to enable the plaintiff to establish his
case was, however, granted by the Court. After a long
and protracted hearing, on the 23rd April, 1857, Vice-
Chancellor Sir W. Page Wood decided that nothing had
been elicited to support the allegations of the plaintiff,
and his bill was consequently dismissed with costs against
him.
The Lincolnshire Journal in April, 1857, explained how
the claimant was able to carry his case to the Court of
Chancery : —
The manner in which the funds were raised for the
purpose of enabling the plaintiff to prosecute his sup-
posed claims was by borrowing sums of money with the
promise to re-pay twenty for every single pound when he
should have obtained possession of his estates at New-
castle, &c., but that in the event of his not succeeding in
his suit the money so advanced should be considered as a
free gift.
* The only record of the case in the Newcastle Chronicle
for 1781 is as follows : — Before Sir George Nares and
the Hon. Justice Heath, at the assizes opened in New-
castle, Saturday, August 13, 1781, " the long contested
cause between the claimants of the estates of the late Sir
Richard Stote, of Jesmond, near this town, was this week
compromised by the parties."
The bait took admirably, and an immense number of
the unwise, anxious to secure the prospect of receiving so
large a return for a small outlay (well knowing that in no
legitimate business could they make one pound realise
twenty) rushed to deposit various sums according
to their means ; some selling their pigs, some borrowing
money, some reducing their stock-in-trade that they
might embark in this lottery ; and, in this manner, hun-
dreds have invested their all in the risk.
After repeated delays, when some of the less san-
guine were beginning to fancy all was over, the case was
announced positively for trial a few days since, and the
spirits of the subscribers rose to fever heat. On Tuesday,
the 31st ult., the case commenced, and day after day
letters announcing the flourishing state of the suit were
received from a party in London who was watching its
progress ; and five to one was freely offered that the
plaintiff would obtain a favourable verdict, and be placed
in possession of the estates forthwith, when — alas ! for
the mutability of mundane affairs — the news that the
arguments of the four eminent and learned counsel
engaged for the plaintiff had failed to make out a case
reached here on Saturday morning last, and that Sir W.
Page Wood had, without calling upon defendants for
their answer, dismissed the bill with costs.
It would be far easier to imagine than to describe the
shock which this intelligence caused, and how deep and
bitter were the lamentations of the deluded friends.
Several had anticipated the pleasing prospect of retiring
from business and enjoying for the remainder of their
days that otium cum diynitale which a favourable issue
promised them ; but all these hopes of future happiness, so
long and fondly cherished, were, at one fell swoop, totally
extinguished, "leaving not a wrack behind." Sic transit
yloria "Afanbi."
S. F. LONGSTAFFE.
Cite
O English bird is a greater favourite than the
robin (Sylvia rubimla). It is more or less an
all-the-year-round resident in the Northern
Counties. Many persons are under the belief that it is
only a winter songster; but this arises from the fact
that the bird is less noticed in summer. Its song may
be heard, in fact, in almost every month of the year.
Though so great a favourite, the redbreast is a fighting
bird. The ' males, at least, are exceedingly selfish and
pugnacious. Where food is placed out, they will attack
and drive off other birds of superior size, and they often
fight with and kill each other. I have noticed that
the robins fight most savagely amongst themselves in
autumn ; and this may account for the rather widely
prevalent opinion that the ungrateful young males actu-
ally kill their fathers ! I have seen many robin fights,
some deadly, but the pugilists were almost invariably
mature males.
The robin, with its ruddy and olive plumage, is well
known to most residents in town and country, chiefly
from its familiar and confiding habits, and its song is
always welcome, either during the dreary days of winter
or in the prime of summer. Here it has many endearing
familiar names, including the ruddock, robinet, &c.,
which latter designation may be taken to mean "little
robin." In Germany it is called Thomas Guidito ; in
32
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
January
Norway, Peter Kousuiead ; and in Sweden, Tomiiii-
Liden. In every country in Europe pretty stories and
legends are told of it. The robin has had its praises sung
by the poets almost as frequently as the nightingale. The
young birds, until they attain their mature plumage,
have their feathers mottled grey and dusky ; but even in
their early youth, after they leave the nest, they have
all the bold, perky ways and characteristics of the old
birds.
In size and plumage, the male and female birds are
much alike, though the latter are rather smaller than
their mates, and their ruddy and olive-grey plumage is
not so brilliant as that of their more pugnacious mates.
When on the ground in search of food, the robins pro-
gress by a series of brisk hops, then halt, and turn their
heads knowingly from side to side. Their food is varied
according to the season of the year. The nest may occa-
sionally be found in very unexpected situations, from the
roof of an outhouse to the open bottom of a hedge. Many
instances are recorded of robins nesting in living rooms
and bedrooms. Usually the bird builds a nest of withered
grass and roots, lined inside with fine grass and hair.
The eggs, from five to six, occasionally seven in number,
vary much in their colour and markings, as most birds'
eggs do. Some are profusely covered with ruddy freckles
and blotches, whilst others are of a dull white hue, with
few or no ruddy freckles. H. KERR.
JJANGDALE PIKES form a grand mountain
group at the head of Great Langdale, the
vale of the upper part of the River Bra-
thay, one of the feeders of Lake Winder-
mere, They soar into three rugged and picturesque
summits. Two of them — Harrison Stickle and the Pike
o' Stickle — figure prominently in almost all the best
views of the English Lake District, though they
nowhere appear to greater advantage than from
Lingmoor, ou the opposite side of the valley.
The other pike is known as Gimmer Crag, but is over-
shadowed by its grander neighbours. From certain
points the two pikes — Harrison Stickle and Pike o'
Stickle — appear to be quite close together ; still, they
are in reality so far apart as to leave a gap by no means
easy to cross. The Pike o' Stickle, which is seen to the
left in our sketch, has an altitude of 2,300 feet above
LANGDALE AND LANGDALE PIKES.
January I
1889. f
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
33
the level of the sea, and is very rugged and broken,
while Harrison Stickle rises to a height of over 2,400
feet, and is more easy of ascent than the other, which it
overlooks.
Although the Langdale Pikes are surrounded by
mountains of more commanding height, yet from many
places they appear to rise in a group from the plain.
This is notable in our first view, which is taken from a
short distance down the Langdale Valley.
The prospect from the Pikes is varied and exten-
sive. Langdale, with its cultivated enclosures, is seen
far below, its tarns glistenintr in the sunlight ; fur-
ther away is Windermere and Esthwaite Water ;
whilst in the extreme distance a glimpse of the
sea may occasionally be obtained. To the south
the massive bulk of Wetherlam confronts the eye,
Coniston Old Man and Grey Friars shutting in the
view beyond. To the east rises Loughrigg Fell
and the mountains surrounding Ambleside. To the
north-east are Helvellyn, Seat Sandal, and Fairfield,
with Skiddaw and Blencathra, or Saddleback as it is
more commonly termed, overlooking Derweutwater.
This lake cannot be seen from Harrison Stickle, but a
fine view of it may be obtained from the Pike o' Stickle.
To the west, rearing its miehty head above Bowfell is
Scawfell Pike, the highest mountain in England, and
Scawfell, which for many years held this title until the
point was decided by the Government surveyors. To the
north of the Scawfell Pikes rise Great End, Great Gable,
and Glaramara.
Stickle Tarn, noted for its fine trout, reposes at the
foot of the precipice known as Pavey Ark, a projecting
shoulder of Harrison Stickle. It is used as a reservoir
for the Government powder-mills at Elter Water. The
stream from the tarn, known as Mill Gill, makes t
series of pretty cascades, which, with the towering
background of Harrison Stickle, form a striking and
effective picture.
The tourist traversing Langdale may note on the face
of Lingmoor Screes a long white mark. This is the dales-
men's sun dial. When Sol's rays reach this mark, they
know that it is twelve o'clock. Elsewhere — at the
hamlet of Chapelstile — the inhabitants indulge in the
mild joke that it was there that Adam and Eve
were married, the allusion being to Adam and Eve
Fleming, who were the first couple joined together in
wedlock at the church. A short distance further down
the valley is the village and church of Langdale.
Harriet Martineau tells an anecdote about this primitive
place of worship that is worth repeating. "A few years
ago," says she, writing in 1855, "the rotten old pulpit
fell, with the clergyman, Mr. Frazer, in it, just after he
had begun his sermon from the text, 'Behold I come
quickly.' The pulpit fell on an elderly dame, who
escaped wonderfully. Mr. Frazer, as soon as he
found his feet, congratulated her on surviving such an
adventure : but she tartly refused his sympathy, saying,
'If I'd been kilt, I'd been reet sarrat (rightly served), for
you'd threatened ye'd be comin' doon sune.' "
There is a mountain track from Langdale past Stickle
Tarn into Easdale. It was while returning home over
this pass, one winter's evening in 1807-8, that George
and Sarah Green, hard-working dalesfolk, were lost
in a snowstorm, which at the same time imprisoned
VIEW FROM THE TOP OF LANGDALE PIKES.
3
34
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
January
their half-dozen bairns within a remote and solitary
cottage in Easdale for several days. De Quincey, in
his "Memorials of Grasmere," refers to the story, telling
how the eldest girl, then only nine years old, exhibited
the greatest care and foresight in providing for the
requirements of her little brothers and sisters. Agnea
Green, however, succeeded in getting out of her temporary
prison, finding her way to Grasmere, and alarming the
neighbours. After a search of three days, the bodies of
the parents were discovered on White Crag, near the
Pikes, in their last long sleep. This melancholy incident
elicited the sympathy of the whole of the inhabitants of
the Lake district, inspired Wordsworth to write memorial
stanzas on the subject, and brought material help for the
orphans from Royalty itself.
It is worth noting that very few of the ordinary English
song birds, and no skylarks, are to be seen or heard in
these narrow valleys. The residents account for it by
the fact that the precipitous crags afford shelter for
numerous hawks, which, with ravens and crows, are
frequently seen hovering about the hills. Formerly
eagles were wont to build in the Pikes; but the
shepherds declared war against them, because they not
unfrequently carried off a young lamb. The birds were,
therefore, either killed or driven away. Failing that,
the eggs were taken from the nests — a proceeding often
attended with great danger, as the dalesmen had some-
times to be suspended from the tops of precipices by
ropes.
Our drawings are reproduced from photographs by Mr.
Alfred Pettitt, The Art Gallery, Keswick.
in J9mrtfttttit«
j]N the year 1297, Sir William Wallace, who
had succeeded, in spite of the mean
jealousy of the haughty and turbulent
Scottish nobles, in freeing his country for
the time being from the English yoke, led his exasperated
followers into Northumberland, and burned and laid
waste the country wherever he went. Forduu and the
other Scottish historians relate that a principal reason for
his invading England at this time was the extreme dearth
and scarcity that prevailed in North Britain, arising
from the inclemency of the season, joined to the
calamities of war, which had been for so many
years waged cruelly and mercilessly by both parties
alike — the English fighting for conquest at the beck of an
arrogant monarch, and the Scots for national inde-
pendence, under self-appointed chiefs, not always co-
operating heartily with each other. The English his-
torian Walsingham describes this particular year by a
rather singular epithet. He calls it "penuria frugum
illaudabilis," that is, "for scarcity of grain not worthy to
be praised."
Having determined on making the expedition, in order
to subsist his troops at the expense of the enemy,
Wallace is said, in his capacity of regent, warden,
or guardian of Scotland, in the name of King John
Baliol, to have obliged all the fighting men of the realm
between sixteen and sixty to follow him under pain of
death; and it is added that this penalty was inflicted
on the disobedient by hanging them up on gallowses
erected for that purpose in every barony and considerable
town. But the allegation is probably a gross libel on the
memory of the Scottish chief.
After making himself master of the town of Berwick,
which had been evacuated on his approach, Wallace
crossed the Tweed into Northumberland, the prin-
cipal inhabitants of which had fled with their families and
goods to Newcastle, and even still further south, there
being no armed force at hand to make head against
the invaders. King Edward was in Flanders, waging
war with the King of the French for the re-
possession of Guienne; and the heads of the English
nobility, neither well satisfied with the king's foreign
policy, which demanded constant contributions, nor on a
good common understanding among themselves, were
scarcely in a position to meet Wallace in the field, after
the signal victory he had so lately gained at Stirling. So
the Scots marched unopposed as far as the Forest of Roth-
bury, which was then, as its name imported, a thickly
wooded district, and constituted a natural fortress some
seven miles long by four broad. From this place as a
centre or headquarters, they spread themselves through
the low country, laying it waste with fire and sword,
killing all who opposed them, collecting great spoils, and
destroying everything they could not carry away. The
priests and monks of all orders were among the first to
flee for their lives, for the Scots in those rude times were
known to feel little or no scruple with regard to their
sanctity, so many of the Churchmen being soldiers as
well as priests; and the Rector of Rudby, Hugh
Cressingham, who had only a few weeks before been
slain on the field of battle, had his dead body flayed,
and the skin cut in pieces to be distributed as trophies.
The Scots continued to burn and plunder at their
pleasure all over Northumberland, till about the term
of Martinmas, meeting, indeed, with no opposition or dis-
turbance, except when in the neighbourhood of the castles
of Alnwick, Warkworth, Harbottle, Prudhoe, and other
fortresses, from which the garrisons occasionally sent
forth parties to attack the rear of the marauders, or to
pick up stragglers, who, when they fell into their hands, got
very short shrift, being taken, as the Border phrase
ran, " red fang." While they remained encamped in the
parish of Rothbury, the Scots of course would make con-
stant use of the Reiver's Well, which is still to be seen
January I
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
35
near the principal entrance to Lord Armstrong's resi-
dence, Cragside.
Having pretty well exhausted the resources of the
eastern district by the month of November, Wallace col-
lected all his forces together, and marched away west-
wards towards Carlisle, with the view of occupying that
city, possibly to make it his winter quarters. In
the course of his expedition up the Tyne, he
stayed two days at Hexham, where the priory had been
burned down, or at least plundered, by a foraging party,
who had likewise set fire to the nave of St. Andrew's
Church, as well as a school-house connected with it. On
this second visit, the following singular scene is said by
Walter Hemingford, the monk of Gisborough, in his
history, to have occurred : —
Three monks, all who had the courage to remain, were
observed in a small chapel. Thinking the danger was
over, they had forsaken their hiding places, and were en-
deavouring to repair the damages of the late visitation,
when, in the midst of their labours, they discovered the
Scottish army, and fled in dismay to the oratory. The
soldiers, however, with their long spears, were soon
among them, and, brandishing their weapons, com-
manded them, at their peril, to give up the treasures of
the monastery. "Alas," said one of the monks, " it is
but a short time since you yourselves have seized our
whole property, and you know best where it now is. " At
this juncture Wallace entered, and, commanding his
soldiers to be silent, requested one of the monks to cele-
brate mass. He obeyed, and the Scottish Guardian and
his attendants assisted at the service with becoming
reverence. When the consecration was about to take
place, Wallace retired for a moment to lay aside helmet
and arms. Instantly the avarice and ferocity of the soldiers
broke out. They pressed upon the priest, snatched the
chalice from the high altar, tore away the ornaments and
sacred vestments, and stole even the missal which the
priest was using. When their leader returned, he found
the priest in fear and horror at the sacrilege. Wallace,
indignant at such conduct, gave orders that the villains
should be searched for and put to death, and in the mean-
time took the monks under his own special protection.
As some atonement for the outrage committed, the Guar-
dian granted to the monks of Hexham a charter of pro-
tection for twelve months.
The town of Corbridge was burned by the Scots
about the same time ; as was likewise a small
house of Benedictine nuns at Lambley, near Halt-
whistle. It is said that the wretched occupants of
the nunnery suffered the common fate of female captives
in such savage incursions — torture and ravishment.
But whether such foul atrocities were approved or sanc-
tioned by Wallace may be seriously questioned. If
they were, one can only say that such sanction or
approval, even in hot blood and in direct reprisal, was
wholly inconsistent with all that one has heard of him
from the outset to the close of his career.
The citizens of Carlisle, when summoned to surrender,
shut their gates in defiance, and made such preparations
for a resolute defence as determined the invaders to turn
away from it and to employ their strength in laying waste
the neighbouring country. The Forest of Inglewood,
comprehending all that large and now fertile tract of
country extending from Carlisle to Penrith on the left
bank of the Eden, and also Allerdale as far as Cocker-
mouth, was overrun and harned. The raiders next
turned eastward, with the view of making similar havoc
in the county of Durham. But they were driven
back by a terrible storm of snow and hail, wherein
many of them perished by hunger and cold, which was
ascribed to the seasonable protection given by St.
Cuthbert to his own people. From thence Wallace
marched eastward towards Newcastle by the old road
on the north side of the Tyne ; and when the raiders were
passing Heddon-on-the-Wall, and a party of them were
foraging about Newburn, the inhabitants of Ryton,
thinking themselves securely defended by the depth of
the river, provoked the Scots with such opprobrious
language that they forded the Tyne, and plundered and
burned the town, spreading a great panic throughout
the neighbourhood. As the Scots approached New-
castle, the burgesses, having made every necessary pre-
paration for defence, sallied forth in order to fight them,
upon which the enemy turned another way. Again
traversing Northumberland, and destroying everything
they had missed in the former part of their raid, the
invaders returned to their own country without oppo-
sition, and loaded with rich spoils, which they divided
after once more crossing the Tweed. During this inroad,
either in coming or going, the Scots encamped on a
hill in the neighbourhood of Carham, on the south bank of
the Tweed, three or four miles from Coldstream, and
there they reduced to ashes an abbey of Black Canons
which had been founded at a period unknown as a cell
to the Priory of Kirkham, in Yorkshire.
The horrible ravages committed by Waallace and
his followers on this occasion are described in the fol-
lowing manner by King Edward himself, in a letter
to Boniface VIII., that infallible pontiff who proclaimed
that "God had set him over kings and kingdoms" : —
"The Scots inhumanly destroyed an innumerable
multitude of my subjects, burnt monasteries,
churches, and towns, with an unpitying and savage
cruelty, slew infants in their cradles and women in
child-bed, barbarously cutting off women's breasts, and
burnt in a school, whose doors they first built up, about
200 young men."
But it must be recollected that this catalogue of
atrocities, scarcely paralleled, and certainly not exceeded,
by any on record in European history, was drawn up on
hearsay evidence, and therefore must not be taken as
literally true. Still there can be but little doubt that the
Scots did commit horrid atrocities. Wallace himself, in
fact, was merely a sort of patriotic reiver. The manners
and tastes of the times, however, were altogether against
the weak and conquered, whether they were. Scots or
Britons.
36
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
I January
1 18S9
tlje late game? ffilepljan.
A stark moss-trooping Scot was he,
As e'er couched Border lance on knee.
Through Solway sand, through Tarras moss,
Blindfold, he knew the paths to cross :
By wily turns, by desperate bounds,
Had baffled Percy's best blood hounds.
— Lay of the Last Minstrel.
JIN days of yore, when England and Scot
land were under separate Crowns, and too
close neighbours to be good friends, blood
hounds were kept on the Borders for the
capture of light-footed reivers ; and how best to train
them for their vocation, and how best to evade their
native and cultivated instincts, were important items in
the curriculum of a Tweedside education. On both sides
of the boundary river, accomplished blood hounds were in
anxious request ; and if they could be got ready-trained
by the enemy, no scruples would stand in the way of their
acquisition. English and Scottish poets have alike sung
their praises. Somervile is eloquent of Border strife, and
commemorates the swiftness and sagacity of the hound
which ran marauders down.
****** Upon the banks
Of Tweed, slow winding through the vale, the seat
Of war and rapine once, *
There dwelt a pilfering race, well trained and skilled
In all the mysteries of theft, the spoil
Their only substance, feuds and war their sport.
Veiled in the shades of night they ford the stream :
Then, prowling far and near, whate'er they seize •
Becomes their prey. Nor flocks nor herds are safe ;
Nor stalls protect the steer, nor strong-barred doors
Secure the favourite horse. Soon as the morn
Reveals his wrongs, with ghastly visage wan
The plundered owner stands, and from his lips
A thousand thronging curses burst their way.
He calls his stout allies, and in a line
His faithful hound he leads : then, with a voice
That utters loud his rage, attentive cheers.
Soon the sagacious brute, his curling tail
Flourished in air, low bending plies around
His busy nose ; the steaming vapour snuffs
Inquisitive ; nor leaves one turf untried,
Till, conscious of the recent stains, his heart
Beats quick. His snuffling nose, his active tail,
Attests his joy. Then, with deep opening mouth,
That makes the welkin tremble, he proclaims
Th' audacious felon. Foot by foot he marks
His winding way.
O'er moor and moss goes the untiring "sleuth-hound" —
"the northern name," says John Trotter Brockett in his
Glossary, " for the bloodhound ; so called from its quality
of tracing the sleuth," "the slot or track of man or beast
as known by the scent."
These dogs were held in great estimation by our an-
cestors; particularly on the Borders, where a tax was
levied for maintaining them. Their scent was so re-
markably quick that they could follow, with great cer-
tainty, the human footsteps to a considerable distance, as
fox-hounds chase a fox, or as beagles and harriers chase a
hare. Many of them were, in consequence, kept in cer-
tain districts for the purpose of tracing thieves and ma-
rauders through their secret recesses.
Thai maid a prive assemble
Of well twa hundir men and mea,
And sleuth hundis with thaim gan ta.
The lines here quoted by Mr. Brockett form part of
"The Bruce," the well-known poem of John Barbour,
Archdeacon of Aberdeen ; he who, in the fourteenth cen-
tury, immortalized himself in the affections of his country
by the lines commencing — "Ah! freedom is a noble
thing !" Sir Walter Scott refers to him in a note to the
passage of "The Lay of the Last Minstrel"
which heads this article. "The kings and heroes
of Scotland," says he, "as well as the Border
riders, were sometimes obliged to study how to evade the
pursuit of bloodhounds." Barbour informs us that
Robert Bruce was repeatedly tracked by sleuth-dogs.
On one occasion he escaped by wading a bow-shot down
a brook, and thus baffling the scent. The pursuers came
up,
Rycht to the burn that passyt ware ;
Bot the sleuth-hund made stinting thar,
And waveryt lang tyme ta and fra,
That he na certain gate couth ga ;
Till at the last Jhon of Lorn
Pursevit the hund the sleuth had Icrne.
A sure way of stopping the dog was to spill blood upon
the track, which destroyed the discriminating fineness of
his scent. A captive was sometimes sacrificed on such
occasions. Henry the Minstrel tells a romantic story of
Wallace, founded on this circumstance. The hero's little
band had been joined by an Irishman named Fawdon, or
Fadzean, a dark, savage, and suspicious character. After
a sharp skirmish at Black Erne Side, Wallace was forced
to retreat with only sixteen followers. The English
pursued with a Border sleuthbratch or bloodhound.
In Gelderland there was that bratchel bred,
Siker of scent to follow them that fled ;
So was he used in Eske and Liddisdael ;
While [i.e. when] she gat blood no fleeing might avail.
In the retreat, Fawdon tired, or affecting to be so,
would go no farther. Wallace, having in vain argued
with him, in hasty anger struck off his head, and con-
tinued the retreat. When the English came up, their
hound stayed upon the dead body.
The slouth stopped at Fawdoun ; still she stood ;
Nor farther wold, fra time she fund the blood.
The bloodhound is the subject of an interesting leaf
of Charles Knight's " National Cyclopaedia of Useful
Knowledge. " Here is the first paragraph of the descrip-
tion : — " The name of a hound celebrated for its exquisite
scent and unwearied perseverance ; qualities which were
taken advantage of, by training it, not only to the pursuit
of game, but to the pursuit of man. A true bloodhound
(and the pure blood is rare) stands about 2Sin. in height,
and is muscular, compact, and powerful. The forehead
is broad ; the muzzle is long and deep, with pendulous
lips. The nostrils are wide and well-developed ; the ears
are ample and pendulous ; the aspect is serene and
sagacious. The tail is long, with an upward curve when
January)
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
37
in pursuit ; at which time the hound opens with a voice
deep and sonorous, that may be heard down the wind for
a very long distance." Reference is made by the writer
in the encyclopaedia, further on, to the statement of Sir
Walter Scott, that the breed of bloodhounds was kept up
by the Buccleuch family on their Border estates till within
the eighteenth century.
Those who are familiar with Border story will remember
the raid of 1528. Its record is to be read on various pages.
The late Dr. Charlton's " Memorials of North Tynedale "
quote it from the State Papers. On a Monday morning in
January, William Charlton and Archibald Dodd, with two
Scots, Harry Noble and Roger Armstrong, rode a foray,
with several others, into the Bishopric ; seized the parson
of Muggleswick, and bore him away ; plundering the in-
habitants as they went, The country rose in pursuit, led
by Edward Horsley, bailiff of Hexham. Thomas Erring-
ton, " with a sleueth hounde," was among the pursuers;
and by him was Charlton of Shotlyngton Hall slain as he
fled. Noble met the same fate. Dodd and Armstrong
were captured and executed, and hung in chains at
Alnwick and Newcastle ; the other two being gibbeted at
Hexham and Haydon Bridge. There is, perhaps, no more
graphic picture of Border life in the time of the Tudors
than was penned by the Earl of Northumberland, after
the event, for the eye of Henry VIII., and his great
Minister, Cardinal Wolsey, when Englishman and
Scot Ivad descended hand in hand upon the Bishopric,
and suffered death. The capture of the priest ; the chase
by Wolsey's bailiff of Hexham ; the impassable flood and
the barricaded bridge ; the hunt with the bloodhound by
the swollen waters of the Tyne ; two of the fugitives
slain, two captured ; and all four hanged in chains : a
foray which, as Dr. Charlton remarks, "confirms the say-
ine of a writer of the day, that these Border thieves
would be Englishmen when they will, and Scotsmen when
it suited them," being ever ready for a raid on either or
both sides of the Tweed.
North and south of the Border stream, the bloodhound
was in use for centuries ; and in the old town of New-
castle he makes his mark in the Municipal Accounts.
When the reign of Queen Elizabeth had yet more than
ten years to run, there was some one "wanted" by the
Council of the North at York, over whose deliberations
the Earl of Huntingdon then presided. What the man had
done that he should be in such urgent request, does not
appear. He must have greatly offended, or there would
hardly have been such running to and fro to lay hold of
him. Horsemen and pedestrians, and also a bloodhound,
were sent in hot pursuit; and as the burgesses of New-
castle had to bear some portion at least of the cost, and
the Chamberlains made a note of the corporate disburse-
ments, we catch a glimpse of the chase after the fugitive.
In the mayoralty of 1592, there was "paide for the
chairges of 3 horses 2 daies, and riding to Darneton and
Sheiles, to make enquirie for James Watson, commanded
by Mr. Maior, 6s. 6d." Not only were horsemen abroad
in quest of him, but man and dog were intent on his trail :
" Paide for a sloo-hound, and a man who led him, to goe
make enquirie for James Watson, 5s." A third item
heightens our curiosity to know more of a man whom
Lord Huntingdon and his colleagues were so eager to run
down: — "Paide for the charges of 3 men, one sent to
Anwicke, the 2 " (the second) "to Stockton, and the 3"
(the third) "to Seaton Dallywell, with my Lord Presi-
dentes letters, to make search for Watson, 5s." All the
payments occur in the month of April, and " Watson "
was evidently familiar enough to the corporate officer;
but he is only a name to us — no more.
In the days when Watson was pursued by horse and
hound, such chase of man was an accustomed thing. In
the latter years of Elizabeth, we meet with mention of the
immemorial employment of the bloodhound in Weardale.
The institution was a public charge, though persons not a
few would gladly escape from the burden. Thus much we
learn from a presentment of May 26, 1601, to be found in
Watkins's "Treatise on Copyholds," under the head of
"Customs, &c,, of Weardale, in Durham." The passage
relating to the bloodhound is this :—
We find that there is a slough-hound, which now is,
and heretofore hath been, kept and maintained within the
said park and forest of Weardale ; which said hound, or
some other, is to be kept and maintained, from time to
time, as need requireth.
Whereas we have given our charge for the maintaining
of a slough-hound ; so it is that we have had and already
have hail of keepers upon the costs and charges of the park
and forest only.
Now there is sundry that would withdraw themselves
from bearing and maintaining the said slough-hound, and
some of them do deny any payment for the maintaining
of the said slough-hound.
Therefore we do humbly crave your lawful favour, that
we be not separated, but continue in maintenance in the
said slough-hound, as ever heretofore it hath been used
and continued.
Such was the presentation made, and such its prayer, in
the time of that most pleasant of prelates, Tobie Mathew,
who "could as well not be, as not be merry." The blood-
hound of his park and forest of Weardale was not, appa-
rently, in perpetual keeping. A hound was there ; and
it, "or some other, was to be kept and maintained, from
time to time, as need required."
The volume from which we make the quotation has a
remark, with a reference to Sir John Skene as the autho-
rity, that "the slough-hound was to trace the Scots,
who stole cattle in the night." When the owners missed
them, " the dog was turned out to hunt their footsteps in
the morning."
At the time of the presentation, in the year 1601,
the Tudors were near the end of their reign. They came
in with the battle of Bosworth Field, and their going out
was to be marked by the peaceful union of England and
Scotland under one Crown. Border raids had gone ; a
Scottish king was coming in ; and there were tenants in
Weardale who chafed under the charge of keeping up a
blood-hound. Perchance they had come to the conclusion
38
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
j January
\ 1889.
that co-operation in such a cause was no longer necessary,
but that every man bereft of his beeves might be left to
look after the reivers himself. Quite as likely, however,
they belonged to the order of men who, in all ages,
whatever be the public needs, have been "impatient of
taxation."
Thirty years, or thereabouts, from the time of the in-
quiry into the customs of Weardale, the blood-hound was
in requisition in the county palatine ; and now, it is not
the Corporation of Newcastle, but the Churchwardens of
Darlington, who make the payment. In 1630 they have
an item in their accounts running thus : — "For fetching
of aslee-dogg, 6d." The historian of Darlington, Mr. W.
H. D. Longstaffe, observes in a note : — "The use of the
sleuth or blood -hound was then much in vogue ; and Den-
ton, in Northumberland, and Chester-le-Street, appear to
have been the places where the owners, and probably
breeders, of these animals lived."
How much such animals were prized in former times
may be inferred from one of the entries of the Calendar
of State Papers. A couple had been lost by a, Baron of
France in the reign of Elizabeth ; and it was to her great
Minister that application was made for assistance in their
restoration. On the 21st of September, 1573, Adrian de
Gomiecourt, writing to Lord Burleigh from Rochester in
French, " solicits him to assist the Baron de Berlaymont
in the recovery of a pair of bloodhounds. " Burleigh was
besieged on all sides for his good offices ; he must befriend
a host of suitors in matters small and great ; and when
two hounds were lost the chief adviser to England's Queen
must lend a hand for their restoration !
Stamtm
j|Nr the arrival of the Romans in this country,
the physical aspect of Britain was very
different from what it is now. The uplands
were covered with heather and whins, or
shaded by dense forests, while the banks of the rivers
formed impenetrable jungles, and a great part of the
low-lying grounds was overspread with marshes, as were
the bleak -barren table-lands with bogs. One of the first
requisites of the invaders, if they meant to keep perma-
nent possession of the island, was to construct practicable
high roads through the interior, affording ready means of
inter-communication. The Britons had, doubtless, long
before formed track-ways through the woods, by means
of which the several independent or allied tribes could
have intercourse with each other occasionally ; but these
rude paths were more like those which the natives of
New Zealand or New Guinea used before the advent of
Europeans, or still use, than anything we now associate
with the name of a made road. They were neither
levelled, raised, nor paved ; nor were they always
straight, but "worked with sinuosities along," like Col-
man's Toby Tosspot, so as to avoid the natural obstacles
that lay in their way, or to touch at the scattered settle-
ments with which the country was more or less sparsely
dotted.
If these British track-ways, however, suited their
purposes, the Romans naturally adopted them ; if not,
they constructed others ; and their engineering work
proceeded until they had covered South Britain, and
Scotland as far as the Grampians, with a complete net-
work of national highways, scientifically formed, and
rather to be compared with our modern railroads than
with those narrow lanes and horse tracks which sufficed
for our easy-going ancestors down till within less than
two centuries since. These roads were raised some
height above the ground which they traversed, and pro-
ceeded in as straight a line as possible between the several
termini, running over hill and dale with very little re-
gard to natural inequalities. Being constructed in an age
when the laws of property, if they might be said to exist
at all, were superseded by the rights of conquest, they
did not require to be diverted, like most of our modern
country roads, from the direct line, and thrown into vexa-
tious angles and obliquities by the bias of private interest.
And so, except where some natural barrier made it im-
possible, the Roman roads almost invariably pursued a
straight course. It was only the interposition of a hill
which could not be directly ascended, the interruption of
a river which was unfordable, or the intervention of an
impassable morass, like the Chat Moss, the Lochar Moss,
or the Dogden Moss, that turned the Roman military
engineers out of the precise route they had laid down for
themselves.
The road itself consisted of three distinct layers of ma-
terials— the lowest, stones, mixed with cement (statumenj;
the middle, gravel or small stones ( rudera}, to prepare a
level and unyielding surface (without the least rugged-
ness, " sine salebris-"), whereon to receive the upper and
most important part of the structure, which consisted of
large blocks of stone accurately fitted together. In the
neighbourhood of towns, they usually had raised footways
(margincs) on both sides (convmerginaria), which defined
the extent of the central part (agger) for carriages, which
was paved with large stones, and was usually about
eighteen feet wide. The road was accurately barrelled,
so that no water might lie upon it ; and where the nature
of the ground permitted, the soil was wholly removed
before the first layer was placed, so as to ensure perfect
solidity. The roads were thus said to be made "by
delving and building beneath " (fodiendo ae tubstruendoj.
The expense of their construction was enormous, but
they were built to last for ever ; and many of them con-
tinued, under all the injuries of predatory barbarians,
January 1
1889. I
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
39
Vandalio landholders, agricultural improvers, and inclem-
encies of climate, wonderfully perfect, down to a recent
period. Having the whole power of the country at their
command, and tribes and nations innumerable to be their
labourers, the Romans were not frugal of the toil of
others. The poor natives had to do all the drudgery,
from quarrying the stones out of the rock and squaring
them to serve as flags, to carrying them up craggy preci-
pices where no carriages could go ; and where little or no
road metal was to be found near at hand (as was not often
the case, however, in the North), the unhappy drudges
were forced to bring gravel, sand, or lime, occasionally
from seven or eight miles off, either on their own backs
or on those of their beasts of burden, arbitrarily requisi-
tioned for the purpose. The Caledonian chief Galgacus
is represented by Tacitus as telling his followers that the
Romans wore out the bodies and hands of every people
they subjected, in clearing and draining woods and
marshes, with floggings and insults (corpora ipsa ac manus
Sylvia ac paludibis emuniendis, vevbera inter et contu-
melias, contereunt) ; and there can be no doubt but that
he spoke the truth.
The Romans, as is well known, were great bridge-
builders, as well as masterful road-makers, their
commanders usually taking the title of pontifex among
their other high honours. Yet it is remarkable that only
three bridges are mentioned by the writers of the Itiner-
aries as occurring in Britain, and one of them is Pons
JE\i\, or jfElius's Bridge, which is well known to have
spanned the Tyne opposite Newcastle. Most of the roads
in this country crossed the rivers they encountered, not
at bridges, but at shallows or fords, for some time at
least after they were constructed ; so that unless resort
was had to rafts or bridges of boats, the travelling on
these must have been very precarious, having to be regu-
lated by the rains and controlled by the floods. At every
thousand paces along the route there were mile-stones
placed, and some of these still remain in situ, while the
pedestals of others are to be seen in many places, with
holes in them to receive the pillars.
Of many of the Roman roads, not only in England, but
in the greater part of the Roman empire, an account has
been preserved under the name of the Itinerary of
Antoninus, which specifies the towns or stations on each
road, and shows the distance between them — usually a
day's march. This record was long supposed to be a pub-
lic directory or guide for the use of the soldiers ; but if
this were the case, it is extremely confused and imper-
fect. It often omits in one iter or journey towns which
are directly in its course, and yet specifies them in
another ; it likewise traces the same road more than once,
and passes unnoticed some of the most remarkable roads
in the island. History is silent as to the tune and the
compiler of this register ; but the most likely conjecture
is that it is merely the heads of a journey formed by some
traveller or officer, who visited the different parts of the
empire from business or duty, during the reign of the
Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, and that it was
supplemented in some parts so late as the reign of Diocle-
tian. Besides this Itinerary, we have the " Description of
Britain, " attributed to Richard of Cirencester, and taken
from ancient (if not contemporary) records now lost.
From these two sources we learn that there were four
great trunk roads in Britain, viz., the Watling Street, the
Erming or Ermine Street, the Ikenild Street, and the
Fosse Way; and modern researches have revealed the
existence of a great many more, connecting the principal
towns with each other and with the coast. For purposes
of direct communication from sea to sea, as well as inter-
nal intercourse, these roads were infinitely better fitted
than any that existed in the island down to the compara-
tively recent days of Marshal Wade, Thomas Telford,
and John London Macadam.
Of the four great lines of intercommunication above
named, we have only to do with the two first, as the
Ikenild Street and the Fosse Way ran through the
southern part of the country — the former from the Land's
End to the coast of Suffolk, and the latter from Exmouth,
in Devonshire, or Lyme Regis, in Dorsetshire, to the
Humber, about Saltfleet, in Lincolnshire. The Watling
Street, on the other hand, traversed England and Scot-
land throughout almost their whole length, or at least
as far north as the Grampians and the Moray Firth, and
sent out branches in all directions, connecting the princi-
pal towns, which numbered some hundreds, and affording
the troops ready access to all the main points, whether
inland or on the coast. The term Ermine, Ermyn, or
Herman Street, again, though primarily applied to a
great road leading from Southampton (Clausentum) and
Chichester (Regnum), where the Emperor Vespasian
fixed his head-quarters when in Britain, through London
(Londinium) to Yarmouth or Colchester (Camalodunum),
coinciding, for a great part of the way, with the line of
the South-Western and Eastern Counties Railways, is
also applied to other great consular or military roads — one
of them at least in our district. It is to be observed that
none of the road-names are those given by the Romans
who constructed them ; they are only those affixed by the
semi-barbarous Anglo-Saxons and Jutes who came
in after the Romans left. The term Watling (some-
times written Waecling) most probably is only a corrup-
tion of the word " wathol," a road or way ; and street is
the Latin "stratum," a pavement, which was applied to
such great trunk roads as were regularly paved or flagged
(viae strata). The term Ermyn, again, which was ap-
plied to a number of lines in various parts of the country,
not otherwise connected with each other, but all usually
taking the shortest cut between their terminal points,
may either signify that the roads so designated were the
quickest marching routes (itinera eelerrima), and, there-
fore, specially dedicated to Hermes, the messenger of the
gods, known to the Saxons as Eormen, or it may merely
40
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/January
I 1889
mean that they were chiefly used as military roads (Ger-
man, Heerstrassen).
Descriptions of the roads themselves will be given in
succeeding articles. WILLIAM BROCKIE.
|NDER date June 15, 1757, the "Local
Historian's Table Book " records the inter-
ment of Robert Clover, "a young man
of uncommon parts and application," who had ac
quired "nice skill in music,'' could draw, sketch,
and paint, and had made "considerable progress " in
modern languages, astronomy, and mathematics. When
only fifteen years of age, we are told, he wrote two
poetic pieces in imitation of Milton's "L'Allegro, " which
William Hilton, of Gateshead, "published with his own
poems"; but "by intense labour he injured a delicate
constitution, and died when approaching to manhood, be-
loved and esteemed by all who knew him."
Turning now to Hilton's "Poetical Works," which
form two thick octavo volumes, published in 1776 by
Thomas Saint, Newcastle, we 6nd the two pieces referred
to. They are entitled "IlGiorno" and "LaNotte" —
in English, "Day "and "Night." " Day" commences : —
Thirsis ! why will ye lose
That precious part of day, the morning's prime,
And foolish spend that time
When ev'ry balmy sweet of nature flows
In sleep's unmeaning joy ?
Come, rise, receive the tribute of the morn,
Morpheus and his visions scorn,
Resist the drowsy god, command him hence,
Immers'd in indolence,
And taste of pleasures that will never cloy.
There are over a dozen pages, written in this high-
pitched tone, evincing most remarkable gifts in a lad of
fifteen. Accompanying them are an " Elegy on Clover ''
and a "Memoir "of the youth, by Hilton himself, who
appears to have been a companion of the precocious boy,
and to have regarded his decease as a public calamity.
R. W.
^ SFteto of J3urftant.
||HE accompanying view of Durham, taken
from the north-east, is strikingly romantic
and picturesque. The original drawing was
made by Thomas Allom more than half a century ago.
Many changes have of course been made in the city and
its surroundings since the sketch was taken. The pre-
dominating feature of the landscape depicted by Allom
is the grand old cathedral which rears its majestic form
against the sky. Other cathedrals may present more
graceful outlines, but few can compare with it for situa-
tion. The city appears to be scattered over a number
of irregular hills, the ground by which it is approached
oeing thrown up into circular mounts. From the north-
east the cathedral appears to great advantage, its northern
and eastern fronts, " like the mitre which binds the
temple of its prelate, giving the noblest supreme orna-
January 1
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
41
ment to the capital of the principality." To the right of
the cathedral are the battlements and tower of the castle,
and to the left is shown the ancient church of St.
Nicholas. In the middle distance is Elvet Bridge, built
by Bishop Pudsey about the year 1170, and afterwards
repaired by Bishop Fox, who granted an indulgence of
the Church to all who contributed towards defraying the
expense of the undertaking.
Hill, Newcastle, was so named by Mr. Isaac Cookson,
the owner of the property, after his son Arthur ! We
may add to Dr. Bruce's statement that the name given to
the place originally was Arthur Hill. Other children of
Mr. Cookson were honoured in the same manner. And
so it comes that we have streets close at hand, and form-
ing part of the old estate of the Cooksons, named John,
Edward, William, and Mary.
Htwjj gtrtftttr
it iff it aSri
the meeting of the British Association at
Newcastle in 1863, an eminent antiquary,
not connected with the district, delivered a
most interesting address on Arthurian Legends. He
pointed to the legends regarding the mythic king in so
many parts of the country and on the Continent.
Coming nearer home, he said Arthur's Seat, at Edin-
burgh, had its name undoubtedly from the British
hero; there was the Arthurian legend — very widely
spread — which connected King Arthur with Sewing-
shields on the Roman Wall, and which will be found in
Dr. Bruce's "Wallet Book of the Roman Wall"; and
there was still another legend which located King Arthur
on the Derwent. Even in Newcastle, the antiquary said,
he understood they had an Arthur's Hill,, and he had
no doubt it could be traced to the all-pervading
monarch. In the discussion which followed, Dr. Bruce,
who was present at the sectional meeting, to the great
amusement of the audience, and the discomfiture of the
enthusiastic King Arthurite, quietly stated that Arthur's
I ANY subjects engage the attention of the
antiquary and the painter in the neighbour-
hood of Almvick. The Castle, of course,
stands first in importance, and it is this venerable struc-
ture which is delineated in our sketch, the standpoint
being the Lion Bridge, itself a most picturesque object.
From the battlements of the bridge a fairly comprehen-
sive view of the castle may be obtained. Those who
wish to include the bridge and castle in one grand scene
will have to walk a short distance along the river bank.
It is here that the artist may frequently be seen with
busy pencil. The bridge figures prominently in Turner's
srreat picture of AInwick by moonlight. An incident in
connection with it is described by Oliver Wendell Holmes
in his "Autocrat of the Breakfast Table," as an illustra-
tion of the strange fact that trivial things are often re-
membered when more important ones are forgotten. " I
remember," he says, "the Percy Lion on the bridge over
the little river at AInwick— the leaden lion— with its tail
42
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
\
January
stretched out straight like a pump handle — and why?
Because of the story of the village boy who would fain
bestride the leaden tail, standing out over the water—
which breaking, he dropped into the stream far below,
and was taken out an idiot for the rest of his life."
antr €ainnuntavit$.
BURYING THE COLOURS OF A REGIMENT IN
NEWCASTLE.
In 1763, on peace being declared, after a war of
many years between this country and France, a singular
and exciting incident was witnessed in Newcastle — the
public burial, with military honours, of the old colours of
the 25th Regiment of Foot, then commanded by Lord
Lenox. What were the exact proceedings cannot now be
stated, the records of the event being very scant indeed.
These records merely state " that on Tuesday, May 31st,
1763, the old colours of the 25th Regiment, being so much
wounded in Germany, and particularly at the glorious
and ever memorable battle of Minden (August 1, 1759),
were buried at Newcastle with military honours." Pro-
bably, however, the old flags, as they were borne along
the streets of the town, in their tattered and torn condi-
tion, to the place of burial, would be demonstratively
greeted by the townsmen. Doubtless, also, the soldiers
forming the remnant of the regiment, as they preceded
and followed the emblems, would be welcomed in a
manner worthy of their countrymen. The place of inter-
ment is not stated ; but possibly it was one of the church-
yards of the town. With the burial of the flags an impor-
tant war period may be regarded as having closed, and it is
worthy of note that, on the following day, the people
had their minds diverted to religion and peace ; for on
Wednesday, June 1, 1763, the Rev. John Wesley arrived
at Newcastle from Scotland, and on that and several fol-
lowing days spoke to immense audiences.
J. S. Y.. Hull.
A YORKSHIRE ROBBERY AND ITS DETECTION.
The following curious story is copied from " Annals
of Yorkshire": — "Samuel Sunderland, Esq., who flour-
ished in the reign of Charles I. and in the Common-
wealth, resided at Arthing Hill, not far from Bingley.
He was one of the richest men of his age, and had accumu-
lated an immense quantity of gold coin, which he
preserved in bags placed on two shelves in a private
part of his house. Two individuals, who resided at
Oollineham, determined to rob Mr. Sunderland -of the
whole, or, at any rate, a considerable quantity, of his gold ;
and in order to prevent the chance of successful pursuit,
they persuaded a blacksmith at Collingham to put shoes
on their horses' feet backward way. They arrived at
Arthing Hall according to their purpose, took away as
much gold in bags as they could carry off, and, notwith-
standing the communication of an alarm to the family
before they left the house, succeeded in accomplishing their
retreat. The weight of the gold they took away was too
heavy for their jaded horses, and they were compelled to
leave part of it on Blackmoor, where it was afterwards
found by some persons of Chapeltown. It so happened
that the robbers had taken a dog with them on their ex-
pedition, and this animal, in the hurry of their retreat,
they left behind them, fastened up in the place from
which they had taken the gold. The friends and neigh-
bours of Mr. Sunderland, who had determined upon pur-
suit, immediately saw in this dog the means of detecting
the offenders. Having broken one of its legs, to prevent
its running too fast for their horses, they turned it loose.
It proceeded, notwithstanding its excruciating pain, to
Collingham, and went directly to the house of its owners.
The pursuers arrived, burst open the door, and found
the thieves in the very act of counting the money. They
were sent to York, tried, condemned to die, and their
own apprentice was compelled to act the part of execu-
tioner. This young man, though innocent of any
capital participation in the robbery, was so horror-struck
by the deed he had been compelled to perform, that he
criminated himself and followed the fate of his masters."
NIGEL, York.
A CHILD'S REASON.
A six-year-old little boy, residing in Jesmond, was
joked one night lately about falling asleep in the tram-
car. "Oh," he answered, "I went to sleep when I
wasn't looking !"
CAMELS AND ASSES.
Tommy Atkins : " Look here ! I have known lots of
camels work hard, a whole week, without drinking,
when we were on the march." Jack Docker : " Git
oot, man ! that's nowt ! Aa knaa lots o' asses whe
drink hard a whole fortneet, wivoot warkin', and then
march te the kitty. Yor camels cuddent de that, could
they, noo ?"
A PITMAN'S APOLOGY.
One of the directors of a local colliery recently visited
the scene of his investment. Observing one of the work-
men leaning on his shovel, and thus apparently idling his
time away, he addressed him with some pomposity as
follows : " My man, can't you find something else to do ? "
This query somewhat staggered the workman, who replied :
" Wey, what the deuce have ye te de wi't? Gan te Jarrico,
ye fyul ! " The director reported the matter to the foreman,
who with the alacrity of an official who knowi who
"butters his bread," hurried off to the delinquent and
exclaimed : " Hi, come here, ye slavering cull ! Did ye
Ja.'J£?r!' 1
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
43
not knaa who that wes whe wes heor just noo ? " "Hoo
should aa knaa ? Onny way, whe is he ? " was the reply.
" Oh, ye'll knaa varry syun. Yell hev te 'pologise, or
gan hyem." "Weel," said the man, "aa divvent want
te gan hyem, se aa'll 'pologise." Off he went. Mean-
while, the director had reached a group of officals to whom
he told the story. The man approached the director and
asked: "Arn't ye the chep whe aa tell't te gan te
Jarrico just noo? Aa's come te 'pologise, se aa'll just say,
divvent gan noo ! "
PORTABLE ENGINE.
An engineman at Jarrow, referring to his son who had
been out of work, said to an inquirer : — " He's making a
varry canny living noo ; he hes a portigal engine ! "
A MILITIAMAN'S RELIGION.
More than twenty years ago, when the work of restor-
ing the ancient church of St. Michael, Alnwick, was
going on, the Northumberland Light Infantry Militia
was quartered in the same town for the annual training.
In consequence of the sacred edifice being closed pending
the restoration, the Corn Exchange was opened in its
stead as a place of worship for those of the regiment who
attended the Church of England. One Sunday morning,
when the gallant corps was on church parade, a bold
Novocastrian inadvertently strayed into the ranks of the
Catholic party. Being perceived by the captain in com-
mand, he was asked by that officer : " What religion
are you, my man ?" Whereupon the straggler, with a look
of bewilderment, answered : "If you please, sor, aa's a
Corn Exchange man !"
On the 13th of November, Alderman Thomas Gray
died at his residence, Spital Hill, near Morpeth. About
six weeks previously, he had received an apparently
Mr. John Blagdon, one of the oldest shipowners of
North Shields, died on the 6th of November, 1888.
On the 6th of November, the remains of Mr. William
Isaac Cookson, who had died at Worksop Manor, Not-
tingham, on the 1st, were interred in the family vault at
Benwell Churchyard, Newcastle. The deceased gentle-
man, who was 76 years of age, was head of the firm of
Messrs. Cookson and Co., coalowners and lead manufac-
turers, Newcastle, and formerly lived at Benwell Tower,
now the residence of the Bishop of Newcastle.
Mr. J. W. George, printing overseer, who had been
forty years in the service of the proprietors of the New-
castle Journal, died on the 9th of November, aged 60.
On the llth of November, Mrs. Oliver, wife of Dr.
Thomas Oliver, one of the principal physicians at the
Newcastle Infirmary, died at the residence of her father,
Mr. W. Jenkins, J.P., at Consett.
Mr. John Telfer, of the firm of Messrs. John Telfer
and Son, wholesale and retail tobacconists, Newcastle,
died on the 12th of November, at the age of 65 years.
The Rev. Mr. Stepney, who had been in the Wesleyan
ministry over fifty years, died at Houghton-le-Spring on
the 13th of November, his age being 77 years.
///'//
f//;///!
II II f l!'
>'•'///-''
'- Thos Grsy.
Pied t/ci;i3-ll$8
slight injury to his foot in alighting from his trap, and
this was the origin of the illnuss which, unfortunately,
terminated fatally. A native of York, where, for a time,
he had been in the employment of the North-Eastern
Railway Company, Mr. Gray came to Newcastle in 1851.
He entered upon possession of the Alexandra Hotel,
which he conducted for several years ; and he also became
the lessee of the advertising stations on the North-
Eastern and other leading railways in the kingdom. A
few years ago, he commenced, with others, the issue of
Gray's Time Tables for Scotland, and he was head of the
firm of Gray and Co., printers, Edinburgh. In the course
of a very active life, deceased had.been connected with all
sorts of financial undertakings, and in most of them he
had achieved very considerable success. Mr. Gray was
elected to the Newcastle Council as one of the representa-
tives of Elswick Ward on the 1st of November, 1871.
In 1884-85, he served the office of Sheriff, and in 1886 he
was raised to the position of alderman. He was one of
the guarantors in securing Elswick Park for the use of
the public, previous toils acquisition by the Corporation ;
and he took a prominent part in the arrangements con-
nected wilh the Royal Jubilee Exhibition in 1887. The
deceased gentleman, who was married, was 64 years of
age.
Colonel Duncan, C.B., Royal Artillery, and member
for the Holborn Division of Finsbury, died on the 16th of
November. He was a native of Aberdeen, and was 52
years of age. He unsuccessfully contested Morpeth against
Mr. T. Burt, and afterwards, with a like result, the city
of Durham. The deceased gentleman was a D.C.L. of
Durham University. (See vol. ii., p. 144.)
44
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
f January
Mr. George Gamsby, who took a very prominent part
in the Chartist movement, along with Mr. Binns, Mr.
James Williams, Dr. Gammage, and others, died at Sun-
derland on the 21st of November, in his 82nd year.
Dr. Edward Headlam Greenhow, of Reigate, Surrey,
formerly of Tynemouth, died suddenly in London on the
22nd of November, aged 74. The deceased gentleman
belonged to a family of doctors. The first who settled on
Tyneside was Dr. Edward Martin Greenhow, a native of
Stirling, who had been an army surgeon and served with
General Elliot at the siege of Gibraltar, who was married
at Tynemouth in 1786, and who died in Dockwray
Square, North Shields, in 1835. A son of his, Dr.
Edward Greenhow, followed the profession of his father,
also in Dockwray Square, and was mentioned in connec-
tion with the Margetts mystery. (See vol. i., page 58.)
Another son of the old army surgeon was Dr. T. M.
Greenhow, a well-known practitioner in Newcastle, who
married a sister of Harriet Martineau, and whose sister,
Sarah Greenhow, married Harriet Martineau's brother
George, at Christ Church, Tynemouth, on the 26th of
July, 1836 It was Dr. T. M. Greenhow, then surgeon to
the Newcastle Infirmary, who recommended Harriet
Martineau to try the effects of mesmerism for the cure of
her ailments. (See vol. i., page 415.)
The death was announced, on the 24th of November,
of Mr. Morgan Robinson, mining engineer, Newcastle,
and late manager of Wardley Colliery, from which he
drew the first tub of coals to bank.
Mrs. Leslie, wife of Mr. Andrew Leslie, the well-known
Tyne shipbuilder, died at Coxlodge Hall, near Newcastle,
on the 28th of November.
Air. Adam Patterson, a member of the editorial staff of
the Newcastle Chronicle, died after a short but severe
illness, on the 29th of November. Though only a little
over thirty years of ape, the deceased gentleman had had
considerable experience as a journalist. After a short
service on the now defunct Northern Daily Express he
joined the literary department of the Chronicle, and for
some time was in the London office of that paper. Re-
turning to Newcastle, he resumed his position as reporter
on the Daily Chronicle; and on the establishment of the
Evening Chronicle, he was appointed to the post, which
he held till his death, of its responsible editor. Mr.
Patterson's frank and genial demeanour, combined with
his honourable and upright conduct, had endeared him to
all with whom he came in contact.
Mr. William Daggett, of the firm of Messrs. Ingledew
and Daggett, solicitors, Newcastle, died on the 6th of
December. He was the eldest son of the late Mr. Alder-
man Ingledew, but, for family reasons, he took the maiden
name of his mother, who belonged to Pickhill, Yorkshire.
The deceased gentleman was 63 years of age, and was
born in Dean Street, over the offices he occupied up to his
death. He served his articles as a solicitor with his
father, and was admitted a practitioner in 1848. He
represented St. Nicholas' Ward in the Town Council for
twelve years, and acted as Under-Sheriff during his
father's Shrievalty in the year 1852-53 ; while he was
Sheriff himself in 1870-71. He retired from the Council
in consequence of the pressure of professional duties and
delicate health, and has since devoted himself exclusively
to his avocations as a solicitor. He was Deputy-Registrar
of the Newcastle County Court under the late Mr. Brook
Mortimer, then joint Registrar with Mr. Mortimer, and
on the death of that gentleman he became Registrar in
conjunction with his brother, Mr. James H. Ingledew.
On the creation of the Newcastle Bishopric, Mr. Daggett
was appointed secretary to the bishop.
On the 5th of December, Mr. George Dodds, ex-Mayor
of Tynemouth, and a well-known temperance advocate,
died at the residence of Mr. F. Gascoigne, his son-in-law,
in Newcastle. For many years a resident at Cullercoats,
the deceased gentleman was elected a member of the Tyne-
mouth Town Council in 1877, and had thus served eleven
years as an efficient and useful member of that body.
He had been a Guardian of the Poor in the Tynemouth
MB. GF.OUGE DOnilS.
Union for fifteen years, and was connected with most of
the philanthropic and benevolent institutions in the
borough. Born in the neighbourhood of the Ouseburn,
Newcastle, on the 19th of November, 1810, he had entered
upon the seventy-ninth year of his age. To the last he
retained bis connection with his native town, in which
for a long period he carried on, successfully, a coffee-
roasting business. Mr. Dodds first signed the temperance
pledge on the 24th of September, 1836. He was the last
surviving member of the original committee of the New-
castle Temperance Society ; and on the occasion of his
jubilee as an abstainer, two years ago, he received the
congratulations of that body, as well as of the Tynemouth
Council, and of his numerous other friends in the district.
The deceased gentleman was also a keen politician, and
took an active part in the agitation which preceded the
Reform Bill of 1832.
On the 5th of December, Mr. Joseph Jordon died at
his residence, Burney Villa, James Street, Gateshead.
For the last quarter of a century he took an active interest
in the Gateshead Dispensary, and for the last few years
acted as secretary. The deceased gentleman was about
60 years of age.
Mr. H. J. Trotter, M.P. for Colchester, son of the
late William Trotter, of Bishop Auckland, died on the
6th of December, at the age of 52 years.
On the same day, Mr. W. Havelock, land agent and
timber valuer, died at his residence in Hencote Street.
January 1
1889. j
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
45
Hexham, in the 69th year of his age. The office of
forester to the Greenwich Hospital Commissioners had
been held by deceased and his fore-elders for three gen-
erations.
born at Matfen, Northumberland, on the 2nd of January,
18W, and has been a member of the Council since 1876,
while in 1880-81 he occupied the position of Sheriff.
XUorrtt at
©ecumncesf.
NOVEMBER, 1888.
6. — It was reported that some interesting experiments
had been conducted at the works of Messrs. Bell, near
Middlesbrough, with a new blasting material, named
"Bellite, " the invention of a Swedish chemist.
7. — It was announced that Sir Lowthian Bell had been
appointed by the Prince of Wales vice-chairman of the
Organising Committee of the Imperial Institute.
8. — Mr. Joseph Baxter Ellis, on the eve of the termina-
tion of his year of office as Sheriff, was entertained to
JOSEPH BAXTER ELLIS.
dinner by the members of the Newcastle Corporation, at
the Duuglas Hotel, the chair being occupied by Mr.
Alderman Newton.
— Dr. F. R. Lees, of Leeds, delivered a lecture on
"The Philosophy of Temperance," in the hall of the
Young Men's Christian Association, Newcastle.
9.— The election of Mayors and other municipal officers
for the ensuing year took place throughout the North of
England. In accordance with an arrangement previously
arrived at, the choice of Mayor, in the case of Newcastle,
fell unanimously upon Mr. Thomas Richardson, who was
proposed by Mr. Alderman Hamond, and seconded by
Mr. J. G. Youll. Mr. Richardson, corn merchant, was
Equally unanimous to the shrievalty, on this occasion,
was the election of Mr. William Suttun, draper, who is t\
native of Langholm, Dumfriesshire, where he was born
0:1 the 19th of December, 1837. He entered the Council
46
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
{January
1889
as a representative of Jesmond Ward on the 1st of No-
vember, 1878. At Gateshead, Mr. Alderman John Lucas
was, without opposition, elected chief -magistrate. About
fifty years of age, Mr. Lucas is a native of Eighton Banks,
and was first elected a member of the Town Council,
Gateshead, in 1868. The mayoral elections in the other
local towns were — South Shields, Mr. Alderman Scott :
Stockton, Mr. Alderman Nelson ; Darlington, Mr. W.
Harding ; Tynemouth. Mr. R. Collins ; Jarrow, Mr.
Alderman Berkley ; Morpeth, Mr. William Clarkson ;
Sunderland, Mr. Alderman Barnes ; Durham, Mr. Alder-
man Boyd ; Middlesbrough, Mr. Raylton Dixon ; Hartle-
pool, Mr. R. C. Black ; West Hartlepool, Mr. Alderman
Pyman ; and Berwick, Commander Norman, R.N.
10. — The usual winter series of People's Concerts com-
menced in the Town Hall, Newcastle.
— As President of the Durham College of Science in
Newcastle, Dr. Lake, Dean of Durham and Warden of
the University, issued an appeal for subscriptions on
behalf of the College, a sum of not less than £20,000
being required to place it in a sound financial position.
12.— The Rev. Dr. Dallinger, the well-known Wesleyan
minister and scientist, lectured on a scientific topic in
Newcastle.
13.— The brig Granite, of West Hartlepool, was
wrecked at the mouth of the Tees, all hands, eight in
number, being drowned. Miss Strover, sister of the
registrar of Hartlepool County Court, while witnessing
the ineflectual attempts of the lifeboat to save the men,
fell dead from excitement.
— Benjamin Dunnell, 36 years of age, was committed
for trial by the Newcastle magistrates, on a charge of
attempting to murder Margaret Cooper. On the 24th,
he was sentenced to five years' penal servitude by Mr.
Baron Pollock.
14-. — In the House of Commons, in answer to a question
by Mr. Milvain, Mr. Matthews, Home Secretary, stated
that there had been a careful inquiry and report on the
subject of the burglary at Edlingham Vicarage, near
Alnwick, in Northumberland, for which offence two men
were convicted in 1879, and had since been in penal ser-
vitude. The circumstances elicited were most singular
and unprecedented. After careful consideration, he had
directed criminal proceedings to be taken against two
others, and he had ordered the two men who were con-
victed in 1879 to be released on license. Michael Bran-
nagan and Peter Murphy, the two prisoners set at liberty,
arrived at Alnwick from Dartmoor on the 16th, and met
with a most enthusiastic reception from their relatives
and the inhabitants generally. On the previous day the
other two men, George Edgell, 46, and Charles Richard-
son, 55 years of age, were apprehended by the Aluwick
police, and remanded on the charge of having, on their
own confession, been implicated in the burglary. The
gentlemen who had been chiefly instrumental in bringing
to light the true circumstances of the extraordinary case
were the Rev. J. J. M. Perry, vicar of St. Paul's, Aln-
wick, and Mr. C. Percy, solicitor, of the same town. Eg-
dell and Richardson were committed for trial on the 21st;
and on being brought before Mr. Baron Pollock, at the
Northumberland Assizes, on the 24th, they pleaded guilty
to the burglary, and were each sentenced to five years'
penal servitude. In the House of Commons, on the 3rd
of December, in answer to Mr. Milvain, the Home
Secretary stated that a "free pardon " had been granted
to Murphy and Brannagan, and that he had obtained the
sanction of the Treasury, under the exceptional circum-
stances of the case, to offer £800 to each man as pecuniary
compensation.
15. — A coroner's jury in London returned a verdict of
unsound mind in the case of Mr. William Snowden Robin-
son, one of the senior solicitors practising in Sunderland,
who had committed suicide by shooting himself at High-
bury, whither he had gone on a visit.
— At a meeting of delegates of the Northumberland
Miners' Union, it was decided to ask for an advance of
wages to the extent of 15 per cent. The owners decided
to offer an advance of 5 per cent, at hard coal collieries,
and 2i per cent, at soft coal collieries. These terms were
eventually accepted by the men.
16. — It was announced that Mrs. McGrady, of Monk-
wearmouth, who had given birth to four children, had
received £4, the Queen's bounty. (See vol. ii., page 574.)
This, according to the Newcastle Daily Chronicle, was
the only authenticated instance in England of a woman
having borne four children at a birth.
— During a violent storm of wind, a little girl named
Ethel Pender, six years of age, was blown into the middle
of the street at Gateshead, and was killed by a passing
vehicle. A good deal of damage was done to property in
Newcastle and district. The gale was renewed with great
violence on the 22nd, when a boy named Young, six years
old, was killed by the fall of the chimney connected with
the school at Stargate Colliery Village, in the parish of
Ryton.
18. — George Macdonald, a cartman, died at Blaydon,
from the effects of injuries to his head, inflicted by
Edward Tench, during a quarrel, on the 16th. The man
January |
1889.
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
47
\
Tench pleaded guilty to the charge of manslaughter,
before Mr. Baron Pollock, at Durham Assizes, and was
sentenced to ten months' hard labour.
19.— The result of the triennial election of the Gates-
head School Board was announced, the Rev. W. Moore
Ede, Rector, being at the head of the poll. The consti-
tution of the Board remained practically unchanged.
— A handcuffed prisoner, named William Singleton, 33
years of age, who had been conveyed to Wallsend Rail-
way Station for removal to Tynemouth, suddenly threw
himself upon the line, and was run over by a passing
train, his injuries being such that he died in a few hours
at the Newcastle Infirmary.
— Dr. R, S. Watson sat as arbitrator in reference to an
application for an advance of Is. per ton in connection
with the North of England Iron Trade. As the result of
the arbitration, he awarded an advance of 5 per cent, on
tonnage rates, and 6d. per ton on puddling. The men's
claim was 10 per cent.
21. — A new Wesleyan Methodist Chapel was opened in
Newport Road, Middlesbrough.
— Earl Spencer, formerly Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland,
addressed a political meeting in the Assembly Rooms,
North Shields.
22. — The steamship Vauxhall, of London, was sunk by
collision with the steamer Prudhoe Castle, in Shields
Harbour, but, happily, no lives were lost.
23. — Lord Armstrong, who had come forward as a can-
didate for the representation of the Rothbury Division on
the Northumberland County Council, addressed a public
meeting at Rothbury, giving some interesting reminis-
cences of his early connection with Cragside.
24.— At the Newcastle Assizes, Edward Tait, 21, fitter,
was sentenced to four months' imprisonment for the man-
slaughter of his brother, David Tait, in Newcastle.
— John Dove and Elizabeth Dove, husband and wife,
who had been committed for trial on the charge of the
manslaughter of their daughter, Minnie Dove, were ac-
quitted at Newcastle Assizes, before Mr. Baron Pollock.
26. — Mr. J. G. Youll, solicitor, was elected an alder-
man of the Newcastle City Council.
27. — During the prevalence of a severe storm, a fishing
boat from Alnmouth, belonging to George Richardson,
was capsised, and Robert Richardson, one of three bro-
thers, was drowned.
— At a conference, held in Newcastle, of representatives
of the medical charities and others, it was decided that a
subscription be opened to found an institution to be de-
signated the North of England Samaritan Society, with
the object of supplying medical and surgical appliances,
&c., to the deserving poor.
29. — At the Durham Assizes, William Waddle was
sentenced to death by Mr. Baron Pollock, for the murder
of Jane Beetmoor, or Savage, at Birtley Fell, on the
22nd of September. (See vol. ii., page 526.)
— Mr. Gainsford Bruce, Q.C., son of the Rev. Dr.
Bruce, of Newcastle, author of " The Roman Wall," was
returned to Parliament, as member for the Holborn
Division of Finsbury, in succession to the late Colonel
Duncan.
— Sir William Vernon Harcourt presided at the annual
dinner of the Newcastle Liberal Club, and in the evening
addressed a meeting in the Town Hall. The right hon.
gentleman spoke on the following evening at a meeting
at Darlington.
30.— Voting papers, to the number of 85,000, were
issued to the owners of property and ratepayers in New-
castle for the purpose of ascertaining whether a majority
were in favour of triennial instead of annual elections of
Guardians. On the papers being examined, it was found
that 9,428 voted in favour of triennial, and 5,921 for
annual elections.
DECEMBER.
1.— The Durham Salt Company was registered at
Somerset House, with a capital of £200,000.
3.— Mrs. Ashton W. Dilke, widow of a former member
for Newcastle, was present and spoke at the annual
meeting of the Newcastle and Gateshead Women's
Liberal Association.
4. — A Jewish Young Men's Improvement Association
was inaugurated in Newcastle.
—It was announced that Mr. J. Baxter Ellis had ac-
cepted the office of chairman of the Botanical and Hor-
ticultural Society of Newcastle, Northumberland, and
Durham.
—The first launch took place from the new shipbuilding
yard of Messrs. W. Gray and Co., West Hartlepool.
5. —The shareholders of the High Gosforth Park Com-
pany, at an extraordinary meeting, resolved to reduce the
capital from £100,000 to £60,000, the shares in future to
rank as of £30 instead of £50.
48
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
6. — It was announced that, in view of the demand for
higher education at a reasonable coat, the managers of the
Wesleyan Orphan House Elementary Day School, New-
castle, had decided to replace it by a Science and Art
School, under the regulations of the Science and Art
Department, with Mr. J. S. Chippindale as head master.
4.— Mr. and Mrs. F. J. W. Collingwood, of Glanton
Pike, Northumberland, celebrated their golden wedding.
6. — The magistrates at Bedlington, on the application
of Mr. Richard Fynes, as lessee, granted a full license to
the new Theatre Royal at Blyth.
7.— At a special meeting of the Cowpen Local Board, it
was unanimously decided to light Cowpen township with
electricity, at a cost of £575 per annum.
8.— Mr. R. S. Donkin, M.P., opened a new Church
of England Working Men's Club, in Tyne Street, North
Shields.
9. — In the Tyne Theatre, Newcastle, Mr. Arthur
Nicols, F.G.S., lectured, under the auspices of the Tyne-
side Sunday Lecture Society, on " How did the World
liepin. and how will it end ? Ancient Beliefs and Modern
Science." There was a crowded audience, the chair
being occupied by Mr. Alderman Barkas.
General ©entrances.
NOVEMBER, 1888.
14. — Thirty miners were killed by an explosion of fire-
damp in the Frederick Pit, Dour, Belgium.
— Information was received that Mr. Jasper Douglas
Pyne, M.P. for Waterford West, had been drowned
whilst crossing in a steamer from Dublin to Holyhead.
15. — The marriage of Mr. Joseph Chamberlain, M.P.,
with Miss Mary Endicott, daughter of the American
Secretary for War, was solemnized at St. John's Church,
Washington, United States.
19. — The Empress Frederick of Prussia, with her
daughters, arrived in England on a visit to her mother,
Queen Victoria.
21. — Another outrage was reported from the East End
of London. An intoxicated woman was attacked by a
man in a lodging-house with a knife. He only succeeded
in inflicting a slight wound in the throat before she gave
the alarm. Though followed for a distance, the criminal
managed to get away.
About this time storms were frequent on the East
Coast, many shipwrecks and much loss of life being re-
ported.
23. — A farmer named Dennis Daly was murdered near
Gloun-na-Geentlay, near Tralee, county Kerry, Ireland.
23. — Death of Major Purcell O'Gorman, who sat in the
House of Commons for several years, and enjoyed the
distinction of being the biggest man in the House. He
was one of the supporters of Dr. Kenealy when that mem-
ber applied for a Royal Commission to inquire into the
Tichborne case.
24. — O'Connor beat Teemer in a sculling match on the
Potomac River, United States. On the 26th, Beach
defeated Hanlan on the Paramatta River, Australia.
26. — At Betley, Staffordshire, a pointsman named
James Jervis murdered his wife and two children, and
took his own life.
— A boy named Serle, aged 13, was murdered at
Havaut. Suspicion fell upon a lad named Husband, who
was arrested and charged with the crime.
30. — Several sittings of the Parnell Commission were
held during November, and much important evidence
was given concerning outrages and murders in Ireland.
DECEMBER,
2. — Mr. Cunninghame Graham, M.P., was ordered to
withdraw from the House of Commons by the Speaker,
in consequence of having characterised the refusal of
Mr. W. H. Smith to give a day for the discussion of a
certain motion as " a dishonourable trick."
— A demonstration took place in Paris, under the
auspices of the Municipal Council, in honour of M.
Baudin, a deputy who was killed at the time of the Coup
d'etat, December 2, 1852.
3. — Prompt measures were taken by the British
Government for the relief of Suakim, on the Red Sea,
that town having been besieged for a considerable time by
Arabs.
7. — Richard Wake, an artist for the Graphic, was killed
by an Arab bullet whilst making sketches at Suakim.
9. — A daring attempt to carry out lynch law took place
in the mining town of Birmingham, Alabama, United
States. A mob demanded the officers of the gaol to give
up a prisoner who had murdered his wife and children.
This was refused. Firing was at once commenced, and
about twenty of the mob were killed or wounded. During
the encounter the sheriff turned a Galling gun on the
crowd.
Printed by WALTER SCOTT, Felling-on-Tyne.
ITbe
Chronicle
OF
NORTH-COUNTRY*LORE*AND*LEGEND
VOL. III.— No. 24.
FEBRUARY, 1889.
PRICE CD.
<£vtittct milts 3mmaI0 tit the
ILTHOUGH at the present time this country,
from its increased population and the waste
lands being brought under cultivation, is
entirely free from the large and more
dangerous forms of ferae natura?, yet in days gone
by the Northern Counties of England, which were one
vast range of forest and fell, teemed with animals living in
a state of nature.
Long after the Roman occupation wolves were so
numerous in the North that in the 10th century, during
Athelstan's reign, roadside retreats were erected in York-
shire for the protection of travellers from the attacks of
the savage brutes. For some centuries later the wolds
of Yorkshire and the great forests of Lancashire
were over-run with these animals. Even down
to the 15th century, during the reign of Henry VI.,
Robert Umfraville held the castle of Herboteil
and manor of Otterburn, in Northumberland, of the
King by the service of keeping the valley and liberty of
Kiddesdale free from the ravages of wolves which infested
the great Northumbrian forests. It is supposed the
last of these animals in England was slain during
the reign of Henry VII.
A few years ago Mr. James Backhouse, ot York,
assisted by his sons, discovered in a limestone cave,
situated on a ridge of hills separating Weardale and
Teesdale, in the county of Durham, and about 500 feet
above the valley of the Tees, a perfect skeleton of a wolf,
with bones of other members of this species, besides bones
of the lynx, wild cat, yellow-breasted martin, wild boar,
red and roe deer, and other animals still living in the
district ; but no remains of pre-historic animals were
found in this cave. Quite recently bones of the wolf,
•wild boar, bear, wild cat, and Boi primigenms have
been discovered in the peat moss and the limestone caves
of Cumberland and Westmoreland, thus undoubtedly
proving that these animals were distributed throughout
the Northern Counties in former times.
The wild boar, which was one of the beasts of the chase
of the ancient Britons, who had it represented on
their coins, roamed contemporaneously with the wolf, as
the numerous skulls and other bones found in the peat
mosses of Northumberland, Cumberland, and Westmore-
land, and the many relics of these animals discovered in
Teesdale caves and other similar limestone caves, bear
testimony. Some immense boars' tusks, now preserved in
Middletou Hall, near Wooler, were discovered in Cress-
well Moss, Northumberland ; and, on the discovery of the
Roman Station at the La we, South Shields, several perfect
tusks of the boar, with broken antlers and bones of red
deer, roebuck, oxen, and other animals were found and
transferred to the Public Library Museum of that town.
In the parish church of Stanhope, in the county of Dur-
ham, is preserved a Roman altar found on Bollihope Com-
mon, bearing the inscription that it was dedicated to the
god Silvanus, by Caius Tetius, Veturius Micianus, com-
mander of a wing of cavalry, in consequence of his having
taken a wild boar of extraordinary size which many of his
predecessors had in vain endeavoured to capture. A
similar altar has been discovered in Northumberland
dedicated to the same deity by the hunters of Banna.
The village of Brancepeth, about five miles south-west of
Durham, is supposed to have taken its name from Brawns-
path, the path of an enormous boar, which for years was
the terror of the surrounding district. Ultimately it was
beguiled into a pit fall, and slain by Roger de Ferie with
his sword. An old grey stone, supposed to be the remnant
of a cross in the township of Feery (now Ferry Hill) is said
50
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
to commemorate the successful adventure of Roger de
Ferie, whose posterity occur in the freehold records as late
as 1617. The village of Brandon, near Brancepeth, is
said to derive its name from Brawnsden or Boarsden.
The last positive information we have regarding these
animals in the above-named county are from the accounts
of the bursar of the Monastry of Durham, for payments
made for bringing in wild boars, dating from 1531 to 1533.
We have no authentic records when these animals were
finally extirpated from English soil ; but that they existed
in the great forests of Lancashire and Westmoreland well
into the 17th century, we have historic evidence to show.
Previous to the introduction of firearms many a swarthy
tusker flourished in the vast oak forests and reedy coverts
of these Northern Counties.
The stag, or red deer, now only met with in all its freedom
among the wild scenery of the Highlands of Scotland and
some of the Western Isles, was formerly numerous through-
out the extensive forests of the North-Country. They
must have been relatively plentiful in Northumberland
and Durham, for on the discovery of the Roman station at
South Shields, as I have already stated, quantities of broken
antlers and other remains were found. Thus it would
appear that venison had been largely used as food by the
Roman conquerors. A great many perfect antlers of red
deer have been, from time to time, brought up from
the bed of the Tyne by the dredgers. Some that I have
seen were in a very perfect condition, and, judging from
their partially-fossilised state, must have lain long in the
river bed. Red deer must have lingered longer in the
North-West Counties after their disappearance from the
Northern Counties, for it is recorded that the last of these
animals were destroyed in the great forest of Bowland in
Lancashire in 1805.
The roe buck, like the red deer, is unknown in a wild
state south of the Firth of Forth at the present day.
Yet it lived coetaneous with its larger relative, its bones
and antlers having been found in the same caves and peat
mosses with those of the red deer.
During the post-glacial age, reindeer roamed throughout
the length and breadth of the British Isles, and they
have left their remains in the peat mosses and river
deposits of the North, as well as in other districts of the
country. Their disappearance would seem to be due to
climatic changes, as several attempts have been made to
introduce them into the Highlands of Scotland ; but in
every instance they have failed. Even at the present day
the reindeer of Swedish and Norwegian Lapland are
gradually retreating further north within the Arctic
circle.
Antlers of the European elk (Cervus alecs), an animal
at present confined to northern Europe, were found in
Chirden Burn, North Tyne. They are now preserved in
the pal;eon tological department of the Museum of Natural
History, Newcastle-on-Tyne. Other remains of Cerna
alecs have been met with in the neighbouring counties,
and a skull with the antlers attached was found in
Whitrig Bog, Berwickshire. This find is now in the
museum of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland in
Edinburgh.
Going back to prehistoric times, we find that the
gigantic Irish deer (Cervus megaceris giganteus), so
named from the abundance of its remains found in the
shell marl and peat bogs of Ireland, once ranged through
the forests of the Northern Counties. Its bones have been
discovered in Northumberland and Durham, at the
mouth of the Tees, and at South Shields. The jaws and
other bones of this beast unearthed at Shields were
deposited on the boulder-clay, beneath the peat and brick
earth. They are now in the Newcastle Museum.
Bos primigeniui (the Urus of Ceesar) must once have
been plentiful from the number of its remains found in the
peat mosses of the North. Two skulls of this gigantic
extinct ox, with their horn cores attached, in the
possession of Mr. Robert Blair, South Shields, were dug
out of Jarrow Slake near that town. Skulls of the extinct
Bos longifrons, in the Public Library Museum, South
Shields, were found amongst other animal remains at the
Roman station at the Lawe.
We have it in evidence that the European lynx had its
habitation in these Northern Counties, from its well-pre-
served bones found in conjunction with the bones of wolf,
wild boar, wild cat, and others in the Teesdale cave.
Upwards of a century ago, the wild cat was not uncommon
in the North of England, but, at the present time, it is con-
fined to the Northern Highlands of Scotland. The last
recorded instance of its capture in Northumberland was of
one being killed on the Eslington estate, belonging to the
Earl of Ravensworth, nearly fifty years ago.
The yellow-breasted marten, now restricted to the
Highland forests of Scotland and Wales, and the woods of
Lincolnshire, with a few individuals which still linger
among the mountainous crags of Cumberland, formerly
inhabited these parts. Its remains have been found
in Teesdale cave, and in the more recently discovered
sea cave at Whitburn Lizards, near Marsden. A yellow-
breasted martin was caught in the grounds of West
Chirton House, near North Shields, on May 23, 1883. In
the following week another animal of this species was
taken in a trap at Harehope, near Alnwick, North-
umberland. Doubtless these two animals, a male and
female, caught within a week of each other, had strayed
away from their haunts in the Cumberland hills. The
one taken at Chirton came into my possession a few days
after its capture. It was fierce and intractable, burying
itself in the hay of its bed, and refusing all food
when looked at. Although it lived nearly two
years in confinement, it never lost its savage wildness.
Previous to these captures the last instance on record of
the yellow-breasted marten seen in Northumberland was
one which had taken up its abode in a crow's nest near
Rothbury about 60 years ago.
February I
1889. f
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
51
The foumart or pole oat is now almost, if not already,
extirpated from out the counties of Durham and North-
umberland. A few yet remain among the crags of Cum-
berland and Westmoreland.
The European bear (Ursus aretoi) and the beaver
existed in this country within historic times, and many of
the first-named animals were imported into Imperial
Rome for the gladiatorial shows. Few remains of either
of these animals have been discovered in the Northern
Counties. A perfect skull and some bones of the
Caledonian bear found in the peat at Shaws, Dumfries-
shire, are now in the museum of the Society of
Antiquaries, Edinburgh. The jaws of the beaver found
in the marl in Loch Maree, near Cupar-Angus, are
deposited in the same museum. Other remains of the
beaver have been found in Dumfriesshire, Roxburghshire,
Berwickshire, and in Sedbergh and other places in
Yorkshire. WM. YELLOWLT.
llcrm«-m
STIje
£lreet.
IATLING STREET began, on the coast of
Kent, with three short branches converging
on Canterbury, those from Dover (Dubris),
Richborough (Rutupium), and Limpnie (Por-
tus Lemanus) respectively, and then it went on to London
(Ijondinium), from which, as now, a number of distinct
lines of road diverged. Then by way of St. Albans,
Dunstable, Wroxeter, and other towns, sixteen or seven-
teen in all, the Watling Street arrived at Abergwyngregyn
(now simply Aber), once the residence of the native
princes of North Wales, and Bangor, on the banks of the
Menai Strait, whence there were ferries across to the Isle
of Angelsey (Mona), the chief seat of the Druids. This
line coincided for a considerable part of the way with the
old Irish mail route from London to Holyhead. At a
place which the Romans called Etiocetum, now Wall, in
Staffordshire, a branch called the Via Devana, left the
Holyhead line, and proceeded westward to Chester
(Deva), then a much more important place than it now is.
From Chester the Watling Street came on by Northwich,
where the Romans made good use of the copious brine
springs, and passed Knutsford and Altringham, nearly
on the line of the Cheshire Railways, to Manchester
(Mancunium), where it crossed the Mersey ; thence over
the moors by Ilkley (Olicana), Masham, Hornby, and
Catterick (Cataractonum) to a ford over the river Tees
near Piercebridge (Ad Tisam), where it entered the county
of Durham.
From Piercebridge, the Watling Street passed away
nearly north, through a rich and interesting country, in
the direction of Auckland, almost on the line of the old
highway, to Binchester (Vinovium or Vinovia), then a
town of same extent, said to have been the site of a pot-
tery which produced ware equal, if not superior, to any
made in Britain, and popularly famous for the numerous
coins of the higher and lower empire found there, called
Binchester pennies. The Wear was crossed in the neigh-
bourhood of Willington, from whence the road stretched
due north past Brandon Hill to the Dearness, and so on
to Lanchester (Epiacum), where the Roman town occu-
pied a lofty brow on a tongue of land formed by the
junction of two small streams on the west side of the
modern village. This was a very important place four-
teen hundred years ago, as evidenced by the numerous
antiquities dug up on its site.* It had a court-house
(basilica), aqueducts, and public baths, and likewise an
arsenal and commodious barracks, which latter, we are
told, were rebuilt by the Emperor Gordiauus when they
had fallen into decay. After leaving this noble station,
the road ran past Leadgate, and to the westward of
Pontop Pike, to Ebchester (Vindomora), where it crossed
the Derwent into Northumberland, and where the re-
mains of it are still plainly to be seen, both near the
modern village, and as it ascends the hill opposite, lead-
ing to the Corstopitum, now Corchester, close beside Cor-
bridge, where the Tyne was crossed.
Corstopitum was one of the most important towns on
the banks of the Tyne, not only during the Roman period,
but for several ages afterwards, even down to the terrible
times of the Scottish wars. From it the Watling Street
ran, in a generally straight line, nearly north-north-west,
through Northumberland, over the Cheviots, into Scot-
land ; and during the Middle Ages and down till last
century, when other roads were made, it continued to be
the great central route of communication between Eng-
land and Scotland. On this account it is probable that
the great fair for live stock held at Stagshawbank, near
Corbridge, immediately south of the Roman Wall, at
stated periods through the year, has come down to us
from the time of the Roman occupation.
The Roman Wall was crossed at a place called Portgate,
near Halton Chesters (Hunnum) ; and then the Watling
Street stretched away, almost as straight as the crow flies,
to Risingham (Habitancum), near Woodburn, on the
Reed. This famous place, the name of which signifies
the home of the giant, is mentioned by Sir Walter Scott
in the notes to " Rokeby, " as it had previously been by
Warburton in his account of Northumberland, published
in 1726, as distinguished by the possession of the celebra-
ted "antic figure" of Robin of Reedsdale, who is sup-
posed to have been a great Roman hunter in the primeval
British forest, t The river Reed was here crossed over
to the right bank, along which the road proceeded for six
or seven miles, mostly in the line of the old turnpike,
past Troughend, till it crossed the river once more at
Ellishaw.
* See Monthly Chroniclt, vol. it, page 73.
t For Robin of Risineham gee Monthly Chronicle, vol. ii., p. 63.
52
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
f February
The next station was Bremenium, now High Rochester,
or Riechester, near Burnhope Craig, placed on the brow
of a steep rugged hill, with walls seven feet in thickness,
chequered with ashlar work, and defended by triple ram-
parts of earth. It was the strongest fortress the Romans
possessed in Northumberland, commanding, as it did, the
pass over the Cheviots into Reedsdale ; and before they
took possession of it, it was the chief fortress of that tribe
of the Brigantes known as the Ottadini, whose couutry is
believed to have extended from the Tyne to the Forth,
along the sea coaat, and for some distance inland, where
they bordered on another British tribe, inhabiting Jed
Forest and Teviotdaie — the Gadeni.
After leaving Rochester, the road ran straight north,
and made for the border line between England and Scot-
land at the head of Coquet, following the course of the
Sills Burn, crossing the wide waste of Thillmoor, by
way of Gemmelscleugh, or Gemmelspath, reaching Chew
Green, the Ad Fines of the Itinerary, at the foot of the
Brown Hart Law, on a gently sloping hill, at the base of
which the two heads of the Coquet have their rise.
This is a most wonderful place, almost bewildering in the
intricacy of its fortifications.
Beyond Ad Fines the road bends round Brown Hart
Law ; and while doing so it crosses the border line, and
from thence proceeds northward, on the back of the range
of hills which send down their streams into the Cayle,
near the Hindhopes, on the west of Blackball Hill and
Resby Fell ; thence by the head of Skerrysburghope, and
onwards for Wodenlaw, the eastern base of which it
skirts, and descends the mountains to the Cayle, which
it passes at Towford. On the top of Wodenlaw there have
been two forts, defended on the south-east by triple ram-
parts for the purpose of guarding the mountain pass.
This elevated station commands a magnificent prospect
on the west, north, and east. Westward the whole
northern slopes of the Cheviot range are exposed to view.
On the north, the lofty range of the Lammermoors limits
the vision, while eastward the German Ocean is visible.
Between Wodenlaw and the summit of Soltra lies a beau-
tiful country, encircled by alpine summits, extending to
nearly forty miles in diameter. Almost in the middle of
the magnificent scene the three-peaked Eildons are
seen from base to crest.
The Watling Street, leaving the valley of the Cayle
and traversing that of the Oxnam, past Street House and
Pennymuir, reaches the Jed, near its junction with the
Teviot, at Bonjedward (Gadanica), where there was
another great central station. Then, crossing the Teviot,
it runs over Lilliard's Edge, the scene of the battle of
Ancrurn Moor,* to a station in the neighbourhood of the
Eildon Hills (the Trimontium of the Romans). This
station is understood to have been at Eildon, where the
headquarters of the troops were established; and at
* See vol. ii., page 245.
Newstead, a mile or BO further on, immediately below
Melrose, the numerous Roman antiquities which are
found demonstrate it to have been a large town at least
down till the close of the fifth century, when the Romans
abandoned Britain. The Tweed was here crossed, it is
thought, by a stone bridge of which the abutments were
once traceable on both sides of the river.
Thence the Watling Street proceeded northwards up
the west bank of the Leader, past Chester Lee and Black
Chester to Channelkirk, situated on the southern slopes
of the Lammermoors. From Channelkirk, where the re-
mains of the Roman camp are still to be seen, the great
road pursued its way over Soutra Hill across Midlothian
to the site of the modern city of Edinburgh.
In many parts of its course, both northwards and south
wards, the Watling Street is still open. During the last
three-quarters of the eighteenth century, and the first
quarter of this, the cattle trade from Scotland mostly
passed along it; and the traffic at some times of the year —
as after the Doune and Falkirk Trysts, the largest fairs in
Britain — was enormous, the herds of black Highland
kyloes following one another, without intermission, for
days, on their long, weary way southwards to the great
fair at Chipping-Barnet, near St. Albans, if not disposed
of elsewhere on the route. One need not wonder to find
the road much out up in many places, considering for
what a length of time it continued to be thus used with-
out the least pains being taken to keep it in order : con-
sidering also that every farmer in the vicinity felt no
manner of scruple in carting off stones from it, and that
the county surveyors used the same freedom when form-
ing new statute-labour or turnpike roads.
WILLIAM BKOOKIE.
CSftcreto at
j]ANY long years ago, before there were any
ironworks in or near the pleasant village
of Tudhoe, or any paper manufactory in
the neighbourhood, or ladies' seminary,
or gentlemen's boarding school, or even a public-house —
when the township was entirely rural, and the principal
inhabitants besides the vicar were the farmers who occu-
pied the eight farms of Tudhoe Hall, Tudhoe North
Farm, High Butcher Race, Black Horse, York Hill,
Coldstream, Tudhoe Moor, and Tudhoe Mill — a company
of reapers assembled at the last named place, in the
farmer's kitchen, to regale themselves on the evening of
the concluding reaping day with a " mell supper " — the
North Country term for the feast of harvest home. The
mell dolly or kirn babby, made of the last cuts of corn
reaped, gaily decorated with ribbons, had been carried
home in triumph by the women from the harvest field.
February 1
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
with merry shouting, singing, and dancing, and duly
fixed up above the dresser, to remain there till the next
year ; and the farmer's wife had had her week's ohurnins'
hat forenoon, so as to have plenty of fresh butter to
regale the company with, and there was a whole pile of
barmy fadges, of beef and mutton and pork and home-
made cheese — everything, in short to constitute a hearty
hearty, wholesome, substantial supper — while the good-
man had laid in what he deemed an adequate supply of
liquids to cheer the hearts and raise the spirits of the
assembled company. But either the party was larger
than had been expected, or they drank more freely than
their host had anticipated, for the liquor was exhausted
before the thirst of some of the older hands had been fully
satisfied ; so it was agreed that each of them should con-
tribute a small sum, and that one of the company should
be despatched forthwith to the nearest public house for a
fresh supply. The mission was entrusted to a poor
fellow, a sort of half-wit, who was always ready to go
on anybody's chance errands. He was directed to go to
Sunderland Bridge, which was about a mile and a half
distant, and get a couple of quart bottles of whisky filled
at the public house, and come back as fast as his legs
could carry him. But when he had been absent nearly
three hours, the thirsty souls naturally began to be very
impatient. As he seemed likely to be loitering by the
way, one of the men at length swore, with a deep oath,
that he would go and bring him back by " the lug and
the horn," but, on second thoughts, he resolved to
give him such a fright that he would run
straight to the mill-house, without once daring
to look over his shoulder. Accordingly he procured
a sheet,' drew it round him, and stalked out to meet
"Simple Simey." His thirsty compotators waited long,
but neither the messenger nor the man in search of him
appeared. Some of the company went home disgusted,
but a good many sat still in expectation. At last day
began to break, and they could sit no longer. But just
when they were on the point of departing the poor half-
wit rushed in among them, pale and trembling ; and when
they asked him why he had stayed so long, and whether
he had seen anything uncanny, he replied, " Aye, that aa
have I As aa was coming past the Nicky-Nack Field, a
white ghost came out upon me, and aa was sair freeten'd ;
but when aa looked aa saw a black ghost ahint it ; so aa
yowled as loud as aa could to the black ghost to catch the
white ghost ; and the white ghost leukt about, and when
it saw the black yen, it screamed cot amain and tried to
run away ; but blackey was ower clivvor for't, and ran
like a hatter, till it gat haud o' whitey, and ran away wiv
him aalltogether !" When day dawned, and the men
ventured forth to seek their companion, they discovered
in the Nicky-Nack Field a few fragments of the sheet in
which he had been wrapped, but what had become of the
man himself could never be ascertained.
Another Tudhoe tradition relates to an incident that
happened to the occupier of Tudhoe Mill about the end
of the last century. He is represented to have been a
quiet, steady man, who always came home sober from
Durham, Bishop Auckland, or elsewhere on market
days. On one occasion he had been at Durham on business,
and had been detained till night-fall. He was returning
home on foot, and had reached Sunderland Bridge, when,
looking up the bank before him, he espied, at the distance
of about twenty paces, a stiff-built man trudging along
the road. As the place was lonely, he felt glad that he
was likely to get a companion to walk home with,
although he wondered that he had not observed the per-
son before, as the road was quite straight at the place.
The stranger seemed to be a tallish man, wearing a broad-
brimmed hat, which made the farmer suspect he must be
a Qnaker. While this increased his wonder that a
member of that respectable society should be travelling
alone there at that time at night, he quickened his steps
so ae to overtake him. It was very strange, however ; the
quicker he walked, so much the quicker glided on the
person in advance, and yet without appearing to exert
himself in the least. They kept at about the same
distance from each other, while both accelerated their
pace, until they arrived at Nicky-Nack Bridge, and the
miller was about to turn off to the gate on the right hand.
In doing so he withdrew his eyes from the object before
him, it might be just for a moment, and when he looked
again there was nothing on the bridge, nor on the slight
ascent beyond it, nor yet in the lane further away.
Astonished at this, and determined to solve the mystery,
he turned and examined every place where it was possible
the man might have concealed himself. But it was in
vain that he did so. A suspicion now for the first time
flashed through the miller's mind, that it might possibly
be an apparition ; but, as he had never knowingly harmed
anybody, he had no apprehension that any "ill thing"
could have been sent to haunt or frighten him ; and so,
without feeling in the least nervous, but much puzzled
what to think of the affair, he went straight home, where
he told his wife what he had seen. He got little satisfac-
tion, however, from the good dame, who was a very matter-
of-fact woman, and who assured him that he must have
been dreamingwith his eyes open. Till the day of his death,
however, the miller remained unconvinced. It was some-
thing supernatural he had seen ; there could be no doubt
about it. But why it should have been sent to him, at
that particular time and place, he knew no more than
the man in the moon. And so the matter had to
rest. Nevertheless, if we might venture to suggest
an explanation, we should be inclined to say
that the honest man had only seen his own shadow
thrown upon the road right in front of him by that
mighty mother of enchantments, the moon, who had
coyly popped in behind a cloud at the moment when the
Eidolon disappeared.
Many similar legends (some of which are mentioned in
54
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
I February
\ 1889.
Charles Waterton's Autobiography, quoted on p. 450 of
this volume of the Monthly Chronicle), lingered long
among the old inhabitants of Tudhoe, but with the spread
of education, and the great influx of strangers into the
district to carry on the coal-mining and iron industries,
they have now mostly faded out of recollection, and are
beyond hope of recovery.
jfaatball in tft* J!0rtft,
HE cannot pretend to determine at what
period the game of football originated.
That of hand-ball, as we learn from the
" Iliad," was practised in Ionia and the
Troad before the days of Homer. We also find it alluded
to in many passages of the Latin classics. Thus Plautus
says: "The gods have men for their balls to play with."
Seneca speaks of "skilfully and diligently catching
the ball, and aptly and quickly sending it on."
And *' the ball is mine " (Mea pila est) was pro-
verbial among the Romans for " I've won ! " In this
country football has been a favourite winter game
from a very remote date — how far back neither Strutt
nor any other writer on sports and pastimes can tell
us. King Edward III. prohibited it by public edici
in 1349, because it was supposed to impede the pro-
gress of archery, then all-important as a branch of
national defence ; and King James I., in his "Basilicon
Doron," fulminated against the game, as he did against
the use of tobacco, in the following strain : — " From this
court I debar all rough and violent exercises as the
football, meeter for lameing than making able the users
thereof." But, notwithstanding this interdict, con-
firmed as it was under the Commonwealth, merry-
makers continued to play at .the heroic old game, even
in the narrow and crooked streets of London,
which, as Sir William Davenant wrote, was "not
very conveniently civil." One of Hone's correspondents,
writing in the "Every Day Book," says that when he
was a boy football was commonly played on the Sunday
mornings before church time in a village in the West
of England ; and he adds that, at the time when he wrote,
it was played during fine weather every Sunday after-
noon by a number of Irishmen in some fields near
Islington.
There is a short description of a country wake in the
Spectator, wherein the writer, believed to be Addison, says
that, after findine a ring of cudgel-players, " who were
breaking one another's heads in order to make some im-
pression on their mistresses' hearts," he came to a football
match, and afterwards to a ring of wrestlers, and also a
group engaged in pitching the bar. And he concludes
by saying that the squire of the parish always treated
the company every year with a hogshead of ale.
Football was very common on the Borders during the
long wars between England and Scotland. Whenever a
foray was contemplated, as it often was, in time of truce,
a match would be got up, under cover of which great num-
bers would assemble without exciting suspicion, and
concert a plan for making a raid over to the English or
Scotch side, as the case might be. At other times,
persons not friendly to the existing Government would
meet at football, and there talk treason without being
suspected. Each district had rules of its own; but in
almost every parish, and in every town or village,
some particular saint's day was set apart for
"playing a gole " at camp-ball, field-ball, or foot-
ball, as the game was variously named. The usual
time was at Shrovetide, when sports and feast-
ing were in full vogue all over, previous to the
commencement of Lent. The regular custom was to have
a cockfight as well as a football match on Shrove or Pan-
cake Tuesday. At some places every man in the parish,
gentry not excepted, was obliged to turn out and support
the side to which he belonged, and any person who neg-
lected to do so was fined ; but this custom, being attended
with inconvenience, has long since been abolished.
At Inveresk, in Midlothian, there used to be a standing
match at football en Shrove Tuesday, there called
Fastern's Een, between the married and unmarried
women, and the former, it is said, were always victorious.
This was a peculiar case, however.
In most places the contest was between the bachelors
and the married men. In towns where there was a
market cross, the parties drew themselves up on opposite
sides at a certain hour, say two o'clock p.m., when the
ball was thrown up and the play went on till sunset or
later, fast and furious, the combatants kicking each
others' shins without the least ceremony, though it might
be against the rules.
At Scone, the old residence of the Kings of Scotland,
handball and not football was the favourite game pre-
ferred ; and there, though no person was allowed by the
conventional law to kick the ball, but only to run away
with it, and throw it from him when stopped, there was
generally some scene of violence before the game was
won, which caused it to be proverbial in that part of the
country — " All was fair at the Ball of Scone."
The conqueror at a handball match was entitled to
keep the ball till the next year, when he had the much
coveted honour of being the first to throw it up. A man
belonging to Hawick, named, if we mistake not, Glen-
dinning — being a crack runner, who had often come off
victor in his native town in the matches there, where the
opposing players are the residents east and west of the
Slitrig, locally known as the Eastla' and Westla' Water
Men — was in the habit of crossing the Border every
year about Shrovetide, and taking a part in the ball
quisition during the day, together, of course, with lashings
of drink.
Such are some of the historic features of a pastime
February 1
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
55
play, sometimes in Northumberland, and at other
times in Cumberland ; and he generally managed to
bring home the ball with him in triumph. In some
places the prize for the victor was a new beaver hat, and
when Glendinning knew that to be the case, he always
went away with as shabby an old head-covering as he
could find, confident that he would come back with a
much better one after a new victory.
Brand tell* us that it was once customary among the
colliers and others in the North of England for a party
to watch at a wedding for the bridegroom's coming out
of church, after the ceremony, in order to demand money
for a football — a claim that admitted of no refusal, for, if
it was not complied with, the newly-married couple were
liable to be grossly insulted, with loud hootings at least,
if not getting bespattered with mud.
In several places, it was the custom to carry the foot-
ball from door to door, and beg money to be spent in
refreshments ; and here likewise it was dangerous to
refuse, because the recusants' windows were very likely
to be broken by the lads as soon as it was dark. Where
the game was played in the High Street, people generally
took the precaution to shut their shops and barricade
their front windows in the course of the forenoon. The
scene, when the players got fully heated, would baffle
description, old and young contending as keenly as if the
prize had been a kingdom. Sometimes, where a river
intervened, as it does, say, at Hawick, Jedburgh,
Alnwick, Wooler, Chester-le-Street, and other places, the
players considered it no obstacle whatever, but rather
thought it the best of the fun to plunge in tumultuously,
be the water deep or shallow, and rather risk being half-
drowned than interrupt the game.
On Shrove Tuesday there was always a great game at
football in many parishes in the North of England.
Chester-le-Street, Rothbury, Alnwick, Wooler, and other
towns, were particularly famous. The game is still
played with great vigour in the former place between the
up-towners and the down-towners. Brand describes the
ceremonial as observed at Alnwick in the year 1762. The
waits belonging to the town came playing to the castle at
2 p.m., when a football was thrown over the wall to the
populace congregated before the gates. Then came forth
the tall and stately porter dressed in the Percy livery,
blue and yellow, plentifully decorated with silver lace,
and gave the ball its first kick, sending it bounding out
of the barbican of the castle into Bailiffgate ; and then
the young and vigorous kicked it through the principal
street* of the town, and afterwards into the pasture,
which had been used from time immemorial for such
enjoyments. Here it was kicked about until the great
struggle came for the honour of making capture of the
ball itself. The more vigorous combatants kicked it away
from the multitude, and at last some one, stronger and
fleeter than the rest, seized upon it and fled away pursued
by others. To escape with the ball, the river Aln was
waded through or swam across, and walls were scaled and
hedges broken down. The victor was the hero of the day,
and proud of his trophy.
When Lord John Russell, in the year 1835, introduced
the Municipal Reform Bill into the House of Commons,
its provisions created much excitement throughout the
country, and numerous meetings were held all over Eng-
land, either in support of or in opposition to the measure.
The Duke of Northumberland, jealous of any interference
with his manorial rights, gave the most determined
opposition to the bill, and left no stone unturned to pre-
vent Alnwick from being included within its scope. As
one cheap and ready means of effecting his object, he gave
the sum of £10 that year to the ball players to be spent in
seasonable refreshments. A man named Joe Ramsay
was running down the street proclaiming the glad news,
when an old woman cried aloud that it would have
been wiser like if his Grace had given the money to
the poor. "Damn the poor ! they want everything,"
was Joe's sharp rejoinder. There were a good
many Chartists at that time in Alnwick, and they
managed to get up a petition in favour of the bill ; but
the bulk of the freemen, either of their own spontaneous
accord, or seeking to curry favour with the duke and his
agents, sent up petitions, much more numerously signed,
for the withdrawal of the borough from the bill; and
Alnwick was accordingly erased in the House of Lords,
and remains to this day outside the area of reformed muni-
cipal corporations. With the money given by the duke,
several barrels of strong ale were purchased, and a regular
jollification took place in the Town Hall, after the ball
play was over. There was " dancing and deray" to the
heart's content of the lads and lasses, and "guttling and
guzzling" among the elders, till the small hours of the
morning ; and the solid and liquid stuffs left over were
consumed next day by all who felt inclined to come. An
unlucky Chartist, who had the temerity to intrude him-
self into the jovial company, thinking there was
no reason why he should not have his share of
the good things that were going, was detected
as soon as he showed his face, laid violent hands upon,
and would have been tossed over the outside stone stair
of the hall, if some of the more sober guests had not inter-
fered. The venturesome Chartist's name was Will
Hardy.
At Wooler, the game was played between the married
and unmarried men ; »nd after kicking the ball through the
town, one party endeavoured to kick it into the hopper
of Earl Mill, and the other over a tree which stood at the
"crook of the Till." In the days of yore, this contest
sometimes continued for three days.
In many of the villages in North Northumberland, as
well as in Yetholm, Morebattle, and other places on the
Scottish Border, there was always a dance after the ball
play, and a general feasting on currant dumplings, to
cook which most of the kail pots were put In re-
56
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
February
which has in our own day become more popular in all
parts of the country than any other winter amuse-
ment. W. B.
[ EXHAM, with its historic associations, affords
a fair field for the antiquary and archaeologist,
and the lover of nature is delighted with its
picturesque surroundings. Few parts of Northumberland
can compare with it for delightful walks, not the least
attractive being that from the old town to Swallowship.
This is the name of a small promontory round which the
Devil's Water peacefully flows in marked contrast to its
previous noisy career. On both sides of the stream, for a
short distance, vertical cliffs, clothed with verdure, add
dignity to the scene. The place is much frequented by
holiday parties and is a favourite subject with local artists
and photographers. Our drawing is reproduced from .a
photograph by Mr. J. P. Gibson, the well-known land-
scape photographer of Hexhana.
February \
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
57
fiidttntf tit tfte
j]T is now more than eighteen years since
Charles Dickens, " the most popular
novelist of the century, and one of the
greatest humourists that England has pro-
duced," passed away, amidst the deep sorrow and regret
of the whole English nation, and indeed of almost every
civilized people. Turning over the leaves of Forster's
life of the great writer the other day, I was struck with
his evident liking for Newcastle and Newcastle people.
That this liking was genuine, and not assumed to
please his friend Forster,* seems plain enough, for he
gives many eood reasons why he was so fond of North-
Country men.
But first a word about Dickens's birthplace, and the
house in which he died at Gad's Hill. The great novelist
was born in the end house at Mile End Terrace (a short
terrace of six houses) in Commercial Road, Landport,
Portsmouth. Curiously enough, the house was owned and
Bir/A f/ace
if CAtr/ls DtcJrens.
occupied by a Newcastle gentleman, as he himself lately
stated in the Newcastle Weekly Chronicle, for about
fifteen years. It is now in the same state, and has the
same appearance, as when Dickens first saw the light
within its walls. Gad's Hill Place, where Dickens died
suddenly on the 9th of June, 1870, is famous also for
* For some account of John Forster, see vol. ii., page 49.
its association with the exploits of Shakspeare's Sir John
Falstaff. Indeed, there is an inn near it bearing the
name of the redoubtable knight. It was at this inn that a
waiter lamented the death of Charles Dickens because
"he used to have all his beer there." The dining-room
of Gad's Hill Place is depicted in Fildes's celebrated
picture, "The Empty Chair. " Here it was that Dickens
died. Seized with a fit during dinner, he was laid on a
couch in a corner of the room, and never rose more.
The first time Charles Dickens visited Newcastle was
at the end of August, 1852. Some little while before that
it was proposed that a series of amateur dramatic per-
formances should be given by the most eminent authors
and artists in behalf of the "Guild of Literature and
Art," which had just been established for the benefit
of poor members of those crafts who had been over-
taken by sickness, old age, or misfortune. Sir Bulwer
Lytton had written a comedy — "Not so Bad as we
Seem " — for the amateurs, and this was first played at
Devonshire House, her Majesty and the Prince Consort
being present. Amongst the actors were Mark Lemon,
John Forster, Wilkie Collins, Douglas Jerrold, Charles
Knight, John Tenniel, Augustus Egg, &c. Stanfield,
Maclise, Grieve, Telbin, and other eminent artists
painted the scenery, and the distinguished company — the
most remarkable company of actors that ever "starred"
through the provinces — set out on their tour through the
large provincial towns. Everywhere the enterprise was
a big success. Whether the room was large or small—
they did not perform in a licensed theatre— it was always
packed from floor to ceiling.
Before the company arrived at Newcastle, John Forster
had to return to London on some important business
or other. This was a disappointment, and so was
the absence of Douglas Jerrold, who, from some cause
which I cannot make out, did not appear in Newcastle.
The comedy was performed in the Assembly Rooms on
the 27th August, 1852. "Into the room," writes Dickens,
"where Lord Carlisle was, by-the-bye, they squeezed 600
people at 12s. 6d. into a space reasonably capable of holding
300." Of the performance as a whole, the Newcattle
58
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
\
February
Chronicle has a well-written criticism. After lamenting
the absence of Forster and Jerrold, that paper goes on to
say : — "The play itself is loosely hung together, the plot
is insufficient and meagre, and does not furnish adequate
motives for the development of the conclusion ; but with
the aid of fine music, costly costumes, magnificent
scenery, and really respectable acting, it went off exceed-
ingly well, and was most enthusiastically applauded."
The Chronicle speaks very highly of the acting of Charles
Dickens, especially in the farce, where, along with Mark
Lemon, he kept the audience in a continual roar of
laughter. The farce, I believe, was a new one,
entitled " Mr. Nightingale's Diary, " and was played for
the first time at Newcastle. An unfortunate accident
had occurred at the Central Station on the arrival of the
company, a pair of runaway horses upsetting one of the
vans containing the scenery, every atom of which was
turned over. By good luck, however, there was no
damage done.
The Guild of Literature and Art Company were at
Sunderland, August 28, the night after the Newcastle
performance. Writing from the Wear borough to
Forster, Dickens says : — " Last night, in a hall built like
a theatre, with pit, boxes, and gallery, we had about 1,200
people — I dare say more. They began with a round of
applause when Coote's white waistcoat appeared in the
orchestra, and wound up the farce with three deafening
cheers. I never saw such good fellows. Stanny (Stan-
field) is their fellow-townsman, was born here, and they
applauded his scenes as if it was himself." Dickens had
walked from Newcastle to Sunderland that morning.
The hall engaged by the amateurs at Sunderland
was a perfectly new one, having, in fact, had the slates
put on only overnight. As Dickens was manager of
the company, and responsible for everything before and
behind the curtain, his anxiety and " worrit " lest the
place should prove unsafe, and an accident should
happen to the immense audience assembled within its
walls, nearly made him ill, and all but caused him to stop
the performance. But Dickens always got fun out of the
most serious difficulties, and we cannot help smiling at his
own description of his dilemma, " I asked W.," he says,
"what he thought, and he consolingly observed that his
digestion was so bad that death had no terrors for him ! "
"The only comfort I had," he continued, "was in stum-
bling at length on the builder, and finding him a plain, prac-
tical North- Country man, with a foot rule in his pocket.
I took him aside, and asked him should we, or could we,
prop up any weak part of the place. He told me there
wasn't a stronger building in the world ; that they had
opened it on Thursday night to thousands of the working
people, and induced them to sing and make every possible
trial of the vibration. " This somewhat pacified Dickens ;
the performance took place, and, as we have seen, was a
great success.
Mr. Dickens's earliest public readings were given at
Birmingham on behalf of a new literary institute there,
and his services were of course gratuitous. This was in
the middle of December, 1853. Although he insisted
that a number of seats should be reserved for working
men at threepence each, the institution was bene-
fited by these readings to the extent of between £400
and £500. In the following year, for a similar
purpose, he read at Bradford in a carpenter's shop,
with equally satisfactory results, the price of admission
being 5s., though he again stipulated that a number of
threepenny seats should be reserved for workmen. The
natural result of Dickens's kindness was to over-
whelm him with applications from all parts of the king-
dom to read (without pay, we may be sure) for all sorts of
institutions and objects, which in self-defence he was
obliged to decline. From the great interest taken in his
readings, however, and the enthusiasm with which they
were always received, he conceived the idea of paid read-
ings for the benefit of Charles Dickens himself. It was
not till after much doubt and hesitation that he came to
this resolution ; indeed, it took him years of anxious
thought before he finally decided. In April, 1858, how-
ever, he began with a series of sixteen readings in Lon-
don, and in August of the same year he took his first
provincial tour.
He visited Newcastle in its turn on the 24th and 25th
September, 1859, and gave three readings in the Tcwn
Hall. The first evening he read his "Christmas Carol.'
On the following afternoon he read "Little Dombey,"
and the " Trial " from "Pickwick"; and at night, the
"Poor Traveller," "Boots at the Holly Tree," and
"Mrs. Gamp." I was present at the first reading, when
the room was full, but by no means crowded. Dickens
did not read from the orchestra platform, but from his
own table, constructed for the purpose, which was placed
on the floor at the organ end of the hall. Afterwards he
expressed himself as being much pleased with his visit,
both as regards the audience and the hearty way in
which he was received.
In 1861 Dickens was again in Newcastle, and gave three
readings in the Music Hall, Nelson Street, on the 21st,
22nd, and 23rd November, "before an audience (said the
Daily Chronicle) which any author, however distin-
guished, might feel proud to appear. " The people were
packed as close almost as apples in a barrel, and the
hall, which had just been enlarged and decorated, looked
brilliant, fully one half of the audience being eaily dressed
ladies. The readings were from "David Copperfield,"
"Nicholas Nickleby," "Little Dombey," and the
"Trial" from "Pickwick." I cannot forbear quoting
Dickens's opinion of a Newcastle audience, which he
gives in a letter to Forster : — " At Newcastle, against
the very heavy expenses, I made more than a hundred
guineas profit. A finer audience there is not in England,
and I suppose them to be a specially earnest people ; for,
while they can laugh till they shake the roof, they have a
February }
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
69
very unusual sympathy with what is pathetic or passion-
ate."
Bravo ! Charles Dickens. I was myself present on the
"Dombey" night, and could not help remarking how
deeply affected the late Mr. Lockey Harle seemed to be
when the reader came to the death of little Paul. He
could not conceal his emotion, and indeed made no effort
to do so. He was affected in quite another fashion how-
ever, when the " Trial " from " Pickwick " came to be
read. No schoolboy at a pantomime could laugh more
heartily at the eccentricities of clown or the mishaps of
pantaloon than did Mr. Harle at the rich humour of the
trial scene, and his merriment at times rose to a perfect
shout at the turgid eloquence of Serjeant Buzfuz.
An accident, which might have been very serious,
occurred on the second night, an account of which
Dickens wrote, not only to Forster, but to his
friends at home. I will give his own words :— " An
extraordinary thing occurred on the second night.
The room was tremendously crowded, and my gas
apparatus fell down. There was a terrible wave among
the people for an instant, and God knows what destruc-
tion of life a rush to the stairs would have caused. Fortu-
nately a lady in the front of the stalls ran out towards
me, exactly in a place where I knew that the whole hall
could see her. So I addressed her, laughing, and half
asked and half ordered her to sit down again ; and in
a moment it was all over. It took five minutes to mend,
and I looked on with my hands in my pockets."
Early in March, 1867, Dickens was once more in
Newcastle, and gave three readings in the Music
Hall, which was again densely crowded. Writ-
ing to his friend Forster, he pays another high compli-
ment to Newcastle people, which I think is worth
giving : — "The readings have made an universal effect in
this place, and it is remarkable that, although the people
are individually rough, collectively they are an unusually
tender and sympathetic audience ; while their comic
perception is quite up to the high London standard."
As far as I can discover, this was Charles Dickens's fourth
and last visit to Newcastle, and as I have only undertaken
to give a brief account of his visits to the North of England,
his future career, however interesting, has no place here.
Everybody knows now that, although these readings
were a splendid success, they undoubtedly shortened the
life of the great novelist. There has been nothing like
them, as regards their financial results, either before or
since. Including America, the readings yielded him, in
two years, the magnificent sum of thirty thousand
.pounds ; but the earning of that large sum of money cost
us the life of the most genial and popular writer that
England has yet seen, or in all probability ever will see.
W. W. W.
OTarrf of $0i*tftttnt&rta.
ii.
THE LAST OF THE ROMANS.
j|FTER Severus had completed his astounding
defensive works in the North, there was a
long interval of profound peace. Not a few
of the native tribes embraced the religious
faith of their masters, and the entire country displayed
unmistakable signs of progress. Many noble towns
sprang into existence on the five great highways that the
Romans had constructed ; and as these important settle-
ments contained spacious baths, handsome theatres, and
highly ornamented seats of learning, the condition of the
people was vastly improved. On the death of Constan-
tino the Great, however, in 337, there was a renewal of
the warlike troubles, though this time they originated
from a somewhat different source. Frank and Saxon
were ravaging the unprotected coasts, and the Picts and
Scots — a rapidly rising power — were continually coveting
possession of the Tyneside wall. After allying them-
selves with the Ottadini, they broke through in 367, and
carried devastation far south of the barrier. Theodosius
repulsed them, strengthened his positions, and for a time
restored order. But the power of Rome was now de-
cidedly on the wane. A critical state of affairs on the
Continent led to the withdrawal of many of her garrisons
in 403, and the Southern Britons— having been weakened
by frequent drafts of their finest men to the foreign wars
of their conquerors — were left to shift pretty much for
themselves. In 426, the legions of the Empire, under the
command of Gallic, came to their assistance for the last
time, and endeavoured, though fruitlessly, to repair the
grand works of Hadrian and Severus. On their final
retirement, in 436, the attacks of the Northern allies were
renewed more fiercely than ever ; and as they were now
able to swarm over the wall, or outflank it by boating
expeditions across the Solway, its use for defensive pur-
poses was no longer worth a thought. The flourishing
settlements along its course were deserted, the hunted
natives fled in despair, and hundreds of them perished of
hunger, in the caves, hills, and woodlands to which they
turned for shelter. Further south, the aspect of affairs
was not less desponding. Instead of uniting against the
allies of the Borderland, the Britons made bad worse by
quarrelling and fighting amongst themselves. Driven at
last to despair, Vortigern, their leader, addressed an
abject prayer to Rome for help. "The barbarians," he
pitifully wrote, "chase us into the sea. The sea throws
us back upon the barbarians, and we have only the hard
choice left us of perishing by the sword or the wave*."
Rome, however, was now powerless to help, and hence
followed that cry for assistance to another land which
60
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
( February
led to the Saxon invasion and the gradual effacement of
the British race.
ADVENT OP THE ANGLES.
The invitation to these hardy rovers is said to have been
given to Hengist and Horsa — a couple of chieftains who
were on a piratical cruise in the English Channel — and
they were allowed to land in Kent, about the year 470, as
a recompense for the aid they were expected to render.
It would be a long story to describe how they treacher-
ously turned upon their British allies, sent them flying
into the interior, and then, having brought over large
numbers of their Jutish and Anglian friends, gradually
established themselves along the entire eastern seaboard
to Lincoln. It is only necessary for our purpose to refer
to these invasions as the forerunner of others that speedily
took place to the north of the Humber, and kept the
natives constantly on the war path. The Brigantes and
the Ottadini were still the most formidable races along
that portion of the coast which stretches from Spurn
Head to the estuary ;of the Forth ; while the Gadeni
occupied the hilly west country from the Clyde to the
Mersey. When the Ottadini, about the year 470, began
to be seriously molested by the Angles, they were readily
joined by their neighbours in an effort to repel the
invaders. So successful were they in this enterprise, that
they retained their independence long after the more
southerly tribes had succumbed. There is much con-
fusion amongst historians as to the points that were
first attacked, and as to the dates of the rapidly repeated
inroads. The only thing clear is that for a century
after the Roman departure the inhabitants of this
northern land were assailed by foes who were quite as
valiant as their predecessors, and that the condition of
the people sadly deteriorated. The new comers possessed
an abundance of good arms. Every warrior had his spear,
his battle-axe, and his sword — all of sound and well-
tempered metal. Some had bows and arrows for distant
conflict; some were protected by a species of leathern
armour; and most of the leaders wielded ponderous
clubs, pointed with spikes of iron, that were as effective
in a melee as the better-known mace of the middle aces.
Their helmets, too, were far in advance of anything pre-
viously seen. They were elaborately ornamented, mainly
constructed of hard metal, and seem to have supplied a
pattern for the nose-piece, or face-protector, that was
afterwards so generally adopted.
IDA WINS A KINGDOM.
With such aids, and with a constant augmentation of
recruits, there could be little doubt as the ultimate suc-
cess of the strangers. They do not appear to have known
the meaning of a reverse, and one horde followed another
in ever increasing numbers. Landing at Flamborough
Head, in 547, the famous Ida marched a well-disciplined
force of warlike Angles towards the North. They
passed, with difficulty, through the wild woodlands that
covered the surface of our present Durham, and, after
gaining a secure footing across the Tyne, began systema-
tically to make themselves masters of the land. Either
by sword or by torch, Ida swept away every British and
Roman settlement he discovered, and earned for him-
self the terribly significant title of the "Flame-bearer."
His career was many times checked, though only for
brief periods. Urien, the hero of so many stirring
legends, is said to have offered a strenuous resistance and
to have wreaked vengeance on many a raiding band ; but
the foreign invaders, fighting with the utmost steadiness
and bravery, and strengthened by vast reinforcements
from Jutland, gradually won their way to a kingdom. It
occupied a belt of country — about forty miles wide —
extending from the Tyne to the Forth, and was after-
wards known by the name of Bernicia. To overawe the
natives and to secure his own possessions, the new ruler
at once erected a strong castle on the cliffs at Barn-
borough, and from this commanding altitude, for over a
dozen years, launched his thunderbolts at all who dared
to question his supremacy.
THE FOUNDATION OF DEIRA.
While Ida was busily engaged in establishing his autho-
rity in Bernicia, Ella, another of the Angles, also effected
a landing on the Yorkshire coast. The Brigantes, in
many skirmishes, disputed his passage from the sea; but,
though they harried and impeded him, he drove them
right back to the Pennine chain of hills, and eventually
brought under his influence all the territory that lies
between the Humber and the Tees. The new possession
was called Deira, and included in its area the most im-
portant city that the Romans ever held in this country.
At this period, the desolate district between the Tees and
Tyne does not appear to have belonged to either of the
Anglian conquerors. It had been studded by the camps
and stations of the Ceesars ; but, whether from design or
accident, it now remained as a neutral zone between the
armies of two powerful chieftains. With the death of Ida,
in 559, Ella lost no time in seizing the hitherto neglected
land, and when the frontiers of the rapidly growing states
thus lost their buffer, and became contiguous, warlike
operations were not long delayed.
February \
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
61
BIVAL FACTIONS AND THEIB BAIDB.
For some years Ella is said to have waged a fierce fight
against the twelve sons of Ida, and with very fluctuating
results. Professor Veitch, in his "Border History,"
asserts that the southern leader was ultimately successful,
and a large portion of Bernicia was added to the kingdom
of Deira. Whether this was really the case or not — and
most authorities are against him — it is quite evident that
the Angles of the two principalities formed the aggressive
•element in the country, and were either constantly in con-
flict with each other or with the Britons to the west of
them. In 567, Hussa, of Bernicia, took advantage of the
sadly disorganized condition of the native tribes, and
made several highly profitable forays into their settle-
ments. The losses thus caused had the effect of bringing
the different races to their senses. They seemed to realise,
.at last, that they were powerless while divided ; and,
therefore, as a great tribal battle near Carlisle, in 573,
had established the supremacy of the hardy Gadeni, the
leaders of that people succeeded in bringing about a union
for mutual defence. The Britons of Lancashire, Cumbria,
and the whole of the western lowlands were included in
this new confederacy, and it was thenceforth known as
the Kingdom of Strathclyde. It was separated from
Angle-land on the north-west by the great forest of
Ettrick ; and by that formidable earthen rampart, called
the Cattrail, which runs from near Galashiels, through
the county of Selkirk, to Peel Fell on the south side of
Liddesdale. Every available hill was at once strength-
ened by earthen terraces ; stores were accumulated for
the men who had to defend them; and the passes all
along the frontier were placed in readiness for the deci-
sive struggle that was so speedily to ensue.
THE BATTLE OK THE CATTRAIL.
If the men of Strathclyde had boldly assumed the
offensive, it is probable that a march into Coquetdale, or
a determined dash down the valley of the North Tyne,
would have enabled them to wrest much of their lost ter-
ritory from the Anglian holders. But though secretly
preparing for a great battle, they could not restrain their
ardour, and a series of small but annoying raids served to
acquaint their enemies with what was going forward. It
thus happened that, while the Britons were gradually
concentrating for an attack that should be irresistible, the
Angles were made acquainted with all their movements,
and were in that way enabled to take precautions against
the expected onslaught. It was not until the autumn of
580 that the native allies decided upon a general advance.
The harvest season had just concluded when they began
to assemble in the vicinity of the Cattrail, and every
British tribe was represented by its most trusty "braves."
The combined force was under the command of Urien — a
chivalrous old chieftain from the foot of Helvellyn— who
had oft before taken the initiative against the Angles.
He is reputed to have been a nephew of the Southern
Arthur, and to have performed deeds that even the
Knights of the Round Table had never surpassed. When
he took charge of his followers in the present instance,
he found a mighty array of warriors around him. They
had an abundance of provisions ; a numerous camp fol-
lowing; and made merry, over their bright and pleasantly
tasted mead, in many a torchlight glen. But " the yel-
low beverage, though sweet, was ensnaring." It made
the reapers sing of war — war with the shining wing — but
it was as fatal as poison in the action they were preparing
to fight. It raised their courage and enthusiasm to the
utmost ; but it dulled the cunning of their brain. And
yet they never needed their acuteness more than in the
enterprise before them. The antagonist they were about
to meet was the wily Theodoric, one of the most powerful
sons of Ida, and a man who never lost a chance. Like
his father, he also had gained an unenviable reputation
as the Flamddwyn, or Flame-bearer, and his acts afforded
ample justification for the title. No sooner did he learn
that the Britons were leaving their homes for the ren-
dezvous in the Cheviots, than he sent his emissaries to
plunder the deserted settlements, and to destroy all that
could not be carried away. But while numerous bands of
his savage adherents were thus employed, he did not
forget the danger which threatened his own frontier.
Many of the abandoned hill retreats were quietly occu-
pied, and, having greatly improved their defensive works,
^
strong garrisons were left in charge of them. Sloping
entrenchments became in this way very noticeable fea-
tures on every piece of rising ground, and serious ob-
stacles they must have proved to any assailants. Having
thus provided places that would check the pursuers — in
case of an unexpected reverse to his arms — Theodoric
headed his finely equipped forces in the direction of his
carousing adversaries. He found them gathered near the
fort of Guinion— which was the key to the kingdom of
Bernicia on the north-west — and around this spot the
clang of battle resounded for an entire week. The posi-
tion of the stronghold is not very clearly defined. Some
writers give the locality as on the side of Peel Hill, near
the source of the Liddel ; others near the head of
Stanhope Burn ; and others, again, at a secluded spot
near the junction of the Tweed and Gala water. A few,
without much evidence to sustain their contention, have
asserted that the scene of the conflict was at Ewart, on
the south-east corner of Millfield Plain, and that it took
62
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
I February
place "against Ida in 570." A battle may very likely
have been (ought against the Britons in Glendale ; but aa
the digging up of bronze swords appears to be the principal
evidence, it is nearly certain that the date of such a
struggle must be fixed a century or a century and a half
earlier than the period under notice. Contact with
Rome had quickly proved the inutility of bronze as a
material for defensive weapons, and the Britons, even
before the Saxon advance, were nearly as well armed as
their piratical invaders. But there is another, and
Turnpike Ijoai
equally strong, objection to the Ewart theory. There
could be no battle with the famous Ida in 570, as that
ruler died after a reign of only twelve years, and had
been succeeded by Hussa and other of his sons before the
advent of Theodoric. It is not wise, however, to dogma-
tise about an era so remote. All that can be fairly said
is that the probabilities seem to favour 580 as the date of
this eventful campaign, and that it was continued to its
bitter end amid the splendidly fortified slopes of the
Cheviots. Many of the ancient bards have dealt with its
stirring incidents, and have conjured up ghastly pictures
of the scenes that were enacted. Their accounts do
not always harmonize — especially as to the name of
the British leader — but if we accept the version of
Taliessin, who was a friend of Urien, there can
be little doubt that this fierce old warrior was chief
among the heroes who struggled so long, and so
tenaciously, for supremacy at the deep war ditch. He
was the " guledig " around whom the Britons gathered
at the rosy dawn, and who saw so many of them
cold in death before sundown. We are told that there
was a "brow covered with rage" on Urien, when he
furiously attacked his foes at the White Stone of Galy-
stein; and that many men were "gory-tinted" in front
of the slanting mounds they strove to win. Both
leader and lieutenants were conspicuous for heroic deeds ;
but it was for the grand old chief that the highest appro-
bation of the chroniclers was reserved. Exultingly they
ask—
If there is a cry on the hill,
IB it not Urien that terrifies ?
If there is a cry in the valley,
Is it not Urien that pierces ?
If there is a cry in the mountain,
IB it not Urien that conquers ?
If there is a cry in the slope,
IB it not Urien that wounds ?
But prodigies of valour are powerless against a well dis-
ciplined foe. There were doubless many Saxons who,
"with hair white- washed and a bier their destiny," would
stand shivering and trembling with a bloody face. They
were not alone, however, in their grief. Hundreds of
stalwart Britons bad dropped beside them, and were
already wailing on the gravel bank of Garanwynyon,
when the noble Urien fell. One of the old bards tells us
how the truncated body of this hero was buried on the
slope of Fennock, and how the head, with "its mouth
foaming with blood," was carried in sorrow from the field.
Owain, the son of this Cumbrian Bayard, also met hia
death at the hand of the Flamddwyn, and, when he did
so, "there was not one greater than he sleeping." But
the fate of the old chieftain and his son was shared by
many other mighty warriors. Of the 363 tribal leaders
who followed him so furiously to the onslaught, there
were only two who came safely from the " funeral fosse."
Though they had gone forth "flushed with mirth and
hope, " and had dashed repeatedly through the Anglian
throng,
None from Cattraeth's vale returned,
Save Aeron brave, and Conan strong.
Their golden torques, and their chains of regal honour,
were collected from the dead
warriors as trophies of the
hardly-won victory, and their
valuable stores were plundered
or destroyed. The poorer fight-
ing men had little but their
weapons to lose, and these,
together with the lifeless hands
that had wielded them, lay for many a long day after-
wards amid the " sweet flickering play of sunshine on the
grass." The survivors, utterly dispirited and demorlized,
fled again to the dreary hills and moors of the west, and,
for a generation at least, never again ventured to question
the conquerors' sway. Like thousands of their brethren
in the South, they were compelled to seek a means of sub-
sistence far from their old homes, and leave to the
stranger the wooded lands they loved so well, and for
which they had " fought with such sublime tenacity."
WILLIAM LONGSTATF.
The fortified hill, as shown above, is from a sketch
in Roy's "Military Antiquities." It is known as the
White Cather Thun, and is situated in Strathmore.
Though not directly referred to in our article, it furnishes
an admirable illustration of the class of defences which
the Britons constructed so largely in all parts of the
North-Country.
We are indebted for our ground plan of an entrenched
hill to the "Local Historian's Table Book," by Mr. M.
A. Richardson. It represents a defensive work of the
Saxons— constructed probably on a site from which the
Britons had been ejected— and must have been of con-
siderable strength and importance. It is situated on the
Coquet, a little below Harbottle, and doubtless played a
prominent part in many of the early campaigns on the
Northumbrian frontier. In addition to the splendid
protection afforded by the river and its tributaries, the
February 1
1889. f
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
63.
triple rampires are all very formidable objects — being
nine feet at the bottom and six at the top, and having a
fifteen feet ditch in front of each of them. On the
weakest, or west side, there is a fourth line of entrench-
ments ; but on the north-east the face of the hill is inac-
cessible. The interior length of the fortress is 130 yards,
and its breadth 90 yards, so that it was capable of accom-
modating a large number of fighting men.
The drawing of the torque is taken from a sculptured
monument. The outer ring is only an enlarged view of
the ornament round the neck of the figure, and it shows
very clearly how the flexible bars of bronze, silver, or
gold were twisted into the requisite form.
||T was customary in the last century for the
men of the village of Ford, every Shrove
Tuesday evening, to play a football match,
married versus single. The village at that time stood
much nearer the church than it does now — in fact.
under the very shadow of Ford Castle— and, we are
told, the married men played towards the church, and
the unmarried from it. Before commencing the match,
all the men who had been married during the previous
year were compelled to jump over, or wade through,
the Gaudy Loup ; otherwise they were not allowed
to join in the game. The custom long ago fell into
abeyance, and now is entirely forgotten; but another
custom connected with the Gaudy Loup is yet remem-
bered, and possibly had its origin in that connected
with football, as Brand speaks of the custom in the
North of England of demanding money from newly-
married couples, at the church doors, for footballs.
The Gaudy Loup was a pit filled with water, and
generally full of rushes, that stood somewhere on the site
of the plantation known as Neville's Plantin', and in close
proximity to the Delavals' cock-pit. The Castle Quarry
in this plantation — so-called from its supplying the stone
for the rebuilding of Ford Castle by Sir J. H. Delaval —
eventually swallowed up this pit, and another and the
last "gaudy loup" was found in a field on Ford Hill
Farm, which field is now glebe land, on the south of
Ford Rectory. Some years ago, the custom having died
out, and the pit being a nuisance, Mr. Ralph Chisholm,
the tenant of the farm, had it filled up. Within the recol-
lection of old people still living, the bridegroom was
required, on the occasion of a wedding at Ford Church,
to jump over, or wade through, the Gaudy Loup, or forfeit
money to be expended in drinking to the health of the
newly-married couple.
A little picture, "Going to the Gaudy Loup," repre-
senting Lord Delaval on one of hia two favourite white
ponies, Abraham and Isaac, was long a memento of the
custom to the villagers of Ford. When Lord Delaval
returned to Ford Castle in 1803 from Seaton Delaval,
where he had been married, in his old days, to his second
wife, Miss Knight, some one was bold enough to remind
him of the Gaudy Loup, and his lordship, taking the hint
in good part, rode up the hill to view the hole ; but, it is
needless to say, preferred paying the forfeit, which he
did in a very handsome manner. The little picture, in its
black frame, hung for years over the fireplace in the
cottage of Molly Swan, at Ford, until, it is said, it was
presented to the Marchioness of Waterford when she
went to reside at Ford Castle.
The Gaudy Loup being some distance from the church,
the paten stick seems to have been eventually found more
convenient. This stick was placed before the church door
when a newly-married couple was leaving the sacred
edifice, and the bride as well as the bridegroom was re-
quired to leap it, or forfeit the usual money. This
practice not being in conformity with the ideas of the
rector, he tried to discourage it. Other influence was
also brought to bear, and the villagers, not wishing to
give up old " rights, " abandoned the churchyard for the
outside of the churchyard gates. Here, on the king's
highway (close to the old mounting steps for pillion
riders), fearing no interruption, they tried the paten
stick again ; but, the stick not being long enough, a rope
was substituted, either end being held at one of the gate
piers. Although difference of opinion exists in the
parish as to the desirability of discontinuing this custom,
the young people who scramble for "coppers" on such
occasions do not appear inclined to let it drop. Nor is it
altogether certain that the bridal parties are averse to
it, for not long since, on the occasion of a double
wedding, the brides and bridegrooms seemed to enjoy
the fun as much as any of those present.
CUTHBERT HOME TKASLAW.
A " Gaudy," or " Gaady day," as it is called, is a high
day or holiday familiar to the pitmen of Northumberland,
as to the authorities of the University of Oxford. At the
latter, the term is applied to the day when the governors
dine together in their hall. This dinner happens only on
the " gaudies," or feast days. Charles Lamb, in his " Re-
collections of Christ's Hospital," tells us how the lads
there saved up for a "gaudy day." In Northumberland,
a day devoted to holiday, festivals, or revelry is known
by the same name.
When the pitman heard the notes of the cuckoo for the
first time, there was no work that day, for all hands kept
it as a "gaudy." And so the observances of Shrove
Tuesday, or the festivities of a great wedding, were
equally made the occasion for a "gaudy day."
The origin of the word is plainly from the Latin
gaudium, joy. So we have " to gaud," to sport, to keep
festival; "gaudery," the finery worn on such occasions ;
and the " gaudy loup," or leap compulsory on the festive
day.
The custom of obstructing the exit of a newly-married
64
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
( February
couple from the church until payment is made to the
clamouring villagers is a very common one. In Cumber-
land, the gates of the churchyard are all locked, and the
bridal party remain prisoners till ransom can be arranged.
At Bamborough and at Holy Island, there is what is
called " the petting stone, " over which the bride is lifted
as she leaves the church. The ceremony is said to be a
specific against her "taking the pet"; but, like the
" paten " or " petting stick " at Ford, the object of the
obstruction is to obtain a money equivalent for com-
muting the ordeal. R. OLIVER HESLOP.
JCtocr jfamcrutf
ilnircrrc airtf
K Lake District is celebrated for its beau-
tiful waterfalls. Two of them are pictured
in the accompanying engravings, one of
which— the Falls of Lodore— is copied from
a photograph by Mr. Alfred Pettitt, the Art Gallery,
Keswick.
Lodore is situate near the
head of Derwentwater, and
about three miles from Kes-
wick on the road leading to
Borrowdale. The locality is
strikingly picturesque, and by
some writers has been com-
pared to the Trossachs in
Scotland. The approach to
the fall is from the rear of
an hotel, past fish preserves,
over a foot bridge, to a wide
chasm filled with huge boul-
ders. Above tower the rocky
heights of Gowder Crag and
Shepherd's Crag, both adorned
with many varieties of foliage.
The view of the chasm with
its buttresses of rocks is the
real sight of the place, and
not the stream which courses
through it. Seen on a sum-
mer evening, when the lights
are rich and the shadows deep,
the scene is grandly imposing,
whatever may be the state of
the stream. Lodore is oftenest
visited when the water is low,
and much disappointment is
then experienced. To see it
in its full glory the fall
should be viewed immediately after a storm, when the
water comes down with a thundering sound that may be
heard as far away as the Friar's Crag, near Keswick.
Lodore cannot be called a cascade, being an intricate
series of little falls, not continuous as a cataract, but split
and disjointed by rocks. It is not an easy matter to
arrive at the exact height, but in the aggregate it may be
about 150 feet. The instrinsic merits of the waterfall are
granted by all, but it undoubtedly owes much of its popu-
larity to the rhyming description of it by Southey, which,
extravagant as it may be in language, is not far from a
true description. Here is the poem : —
How does the water come down at Lodore ?
My little boy asked me thus, once on a time.
Moreover, he tasked me to tell him in rhyme ;
Anon at the word there first came one daughter,
And then came another to second and third
The request of their brother, and hear how the water
Comes down at Lodore, with its rush and its roar,
As many a time they had seen it before.
So I told them in rhyme, for of rhymes I had store.
And 'twas in my vocation that thus I should sing,
Because I was Laureate to them and the King.
From its sources which well
In the tarn on the fell,
From its fountain in the mountain,
Its rills and its gills,
Through moss and through brake,
THE FALLS OP LODORE, LAKE DISTRICT.
February I
1889. [
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
65
It runs and it creeps,
For a while till it sleeps
In its own little lake,
And thence at departing.
Awakening and starting,
It runs through the reeds,
And away it proceeds,
Though meadow and glade,
In sun and in shade,
And through the wood shelter.
Among crags and its flurry,
Helter-skelter — hurry -skurry.
How does the water come down at Lodore?
Here it conies sparkling,
And there it lies darkling :
Here smoking and frothing,
Its tumult and wrath in,
It hastens along, conflicting and strong,
Now striking and raging.
As if a war waging
Its caverns and rocks among.
Rising and leaping.
Sinking and creeping,
Swelling and flinging.
Showering and springing,
Eddying and whisking,
Spouting and frisking,
Twining and twisting,
Around and around,
Collecting, disjecting,
With endless rebound ;
Smiting and fighting,
A sight to delight in ;
Confounding, astounding,
Dizzing and deafening the ear with its sound.
Reeding and speeding.
And shocking and rocking,
And darting and parting,
And threading and spreading,
And whizzing and hissing,
And dripping and skipping,
And whitening and brightening.
And quivering and shivering,
And hitting and splitting.
And shining and twining,
And rattling and battling
And shaking and quaking.
And pouring and roaring,
And waving and raving,
And tossing and crossing,
And flowing and growing,
And running and stunning,
And hurrying and skurrying,
And glittering and frittering,
And gathering and feathering,
And dinning and spinning,
And foaming and roaming,
And dropping and hopping,
And working and jerking,
And heaving and cleaving,
And thundering and floundering ;
And falling and crawling and sprawling.
And driving and riving and striving,
And sprinkling and twinkling and wrinkling,
And sounding and bounding and rounding,
And bubbling and troubling and doubling,
Dividing and gliding and sliding,
And grumbling and rumbling and tumbling,
And clattering and battering and shattering ;
And gleaming and steaming and streaming and beaming
And rushing and flushing and brushing and gushing,
And flapping and rapping and clapping and slapping,
And curling and whirling and purling and twirling,
Retreating and beating and meeting and sheeting, '
Delaying and straying and playing and spraying,
Advancing and prancing and glancing and dancing
Recoiling turmoiling and toiling and boiling.
And thumping and Humping and bumping and jumping,
And dashing and Hashing and splashing and clashing,—
COLWITH FORCE, LAKE DISTRICT.
And this way the water comes down at Lodore.
Colwith force is a waterfall or series of cascades, on
the Little Langdale River, situate about five miles west-
south-west of Ambleside. The stream is broken by pro-
jecting rocks, rushing amongst them in four falls and
intermediate cataracts to the aggregate depth of 152 feet,
the last fall being about 70 feet. It is hardly possible to
see the whole of the cascade from one
point of view : hence the artist has been
able to give only a sketch of the last fall.
The view from below is very grand, the
mountain known as the Wetherlam rising
grandly above. Colwith force is much
visited by tourists during the summer
months, and a guide who keeps the key
of the door leading to it generally calls
attention to the remains of a bridge which
was thrown across the chasm for the conve-
nience of visitors at the suggestion of Mr.
Ruskin, who regards Colwith Force as one
of the finest of its kind in the Lake District.
The bridge, however, was not allowed to
remain intact very long, as it was thought
that tourists would commit depredations
in the woods on the opposite bank of the
chasm : so that portion immediately
adjoining the south side was destroyed.
Sufficient, however, remains to afford a
standpoint from which a fine view can be
obtained.
66
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
{February
1889.
at JHarft 'artoijrt
Ctoeett*
antr
!lid).u-t) SMelforb.
tr Robert
MAYOR OP NEWCASTLE, KNIGHT, AND M.P.
Like as the brand doth flame and burn,
So we from death to life must turn.
— Ancient Brandling Epitaph.
j]F we could trust one of those " fables and
endless genealogies," against which St. Paul
warned Timothy, it would appear that the
Brandlings of Gosforth enjoyed " the claims
of long descent." For, according to an elaborate family
tree, compiled by some veracious flatterer, they could be
traced back, through seven English kings, three Scot-
tish monarchs, an emperor of Germany, and a noble
assortment of dukes and marquises, earls and baronets,
not to mention knights and esquires, to William the
Conqueror and Malcolm the Third of Scotland ! But,
whencesoever they came, or whatsoever may have been
their relationship to the high and mighty personages
above noted, the Brandlings were undoubtedly a race of
strong-minded and courageous men, who, from the
beginning of the sixteenth century down to our own day,
helped to make local history, and to impress their works
and ways upon successive generations of North-Country
people. In the old times they were distinguished by
strength of will, tenacity of purpose, and a kind of
blustering independence which sometimes mounted to
heroism and at other times degenerated into obstinacy.
At a later period they were leaders in political warfare,
pioneers in coal-mining and railroad enterprise, dis-
pensers of unstinted hospitality, and either promoters or
supporters of nearly every scheme that promised to bring
substantial benefit to the industries of Tyneside.
Robert Brandling, who may be said to have laid the
foundation of the family fortune, was one of the sons of
John Brandling, Sheriff of Newcastle in 1505-6, Mayor
during the first year of Henry VIII., and thrice after-
wards. He commenced the active business of life as a
merchant adventurer, and, interesting himself in muni-
cipal matters under the auspices of his father, was
elected to the Shrievalty on Michaelmas Monday, 1524-.
The office of Mayor was conferred upon him in 1531, and
he was chosen to occupy the same high position (being
also Governor of the Merchants' Company) for the
municipal year 1536-7— the year which saw the beginning
of the Reformation in England, and the end, as well as
the beginning, of a rebellion against it, known through-
out the Northern Counties as the " Pilgrimage of Grace."
At a muster of the whole population of Newcastle
capable of bearing arms, taken in 1539, he appears as an
alderman of four wards— Ficket Tower, Monboucher
Tower, the New Gate, and Andrew Tower— able to offer
for the king's service (besides himself) eight servants well
furnished in all points with bows, halberts, and harness,
"and more if need be." He was Mayor for the third
time in 15434, when the Earl of Hertford, coming to
Newcastle with an army for the invasion of Scotland,
reported the town to be "utterly disfurnished, and un-
provided of all manner of grain " suitable for the victual-
ling of troops. About this time, too, he obtained from
the master and brethren of the Mary Magdalene Hospital
a long lease of their lands at the north end of the town,
including a coal mine in "St. James's Close," with
liberty to sink pits at "Spittel Tongs" and Jesmond
Fields, and became the purchaser of the tract of land
belonging at the Suppression to the Nunnery of St.
Bartholomew, known as the Nun's Moor.
Occupying the important position which repeated
occupancy of office and gradual acquisitions of property
indicate, Robert Brandling was able to entertain at his
mansion in the Bigg Market, called "The Great Inn,"
Lord Protector Somerset, who, upon the accession of
Edward VI., brought another army to Newcastle to
chastise the Scots. Somerset marched away to the
victory of Pinkie Cleuch (or Musselburgh), and when
in honour of that achievement he was conferring knight
hoods upon the chief men of his army, he remembered
his Newcastle host, and made him a knight also. On
the day that the troops, facing homewards, crossed the
Teviot, Sir Robert Brandling became for the fourth
time Mayor of Newcastle, and shortly afterwards one
of the town's representatives in the House of Commons.
It was the first Parliament of King Edward VI. to
which Sir Robert Brandling was elected — a Parliament
which, following the policy of the previous reign,
placed at the disposal of the Crown the chantries,
chapels, and lay guilds of the kingdom. Commissioners
were appointed in the various counties by royal letters
patent to survey and value them, and Sir Robert Brand-
ling was one of those who acted for a part of the
bishopric of Durham. The closing days of this Parlia-
ment (April, 1552) were marked by a proceeding which
long afterwards was cited as an illustration of the power
of the House of Commons to punish offences against
its members. Sir Robert Brandling charged Sir John
Widdrington, Henry Widdrington, and Ralph Ellerker
with an assault, and Henry Widdrington confessing that
he "began the fray upon Mr. Brandling," was committed
to the Tower, his alleged accomplices being released
Before the year was out Sir Robert Brandling, in a con-
test of a different character, received a vast addition
to his already considerable territorial possessions. To
understand the matter aright, it is necessary to turn
back the pages of local history for the better part of half
a century.
On the 26th November, 1510, Thomas Surtees, the
February 1
1889. j
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
67
last of a long line of his name who had held the manors
of North Gosforth, Felling, and Middletou-in-Teesdale,
died. His father had been twice married. Thomas and
a sister named Catherine were the children of the first
marriage; from the second union came a half brother
named Marmaduke. On the death of Thomas, his sister
Catherine, who had married John Place, of Halnaby,
claimed the estates as heir (of the whole blood) to her
brother, and Marmaduke claimed them as heir (of the
half blood) to his father. While these claims were
pending, Robert Brandling married Catherine Place's
daughter Anne, and became, in right of his wife, a
party to the contention. Forty years passed away,
and then, on the 5th October, 1552, the suit ended in
Sir Robert Brandling's favour.
The acquisition of these fruitful estates, while they
added to his wealth and importance, did not improve Sir
Robert Brandling's position at Court. He was not a Refor-
mer, or a friend of Reformers, and when, in the begin-
ning of 1553, a new Parliament was ordered to assemble,
and the King's Council "recommended " suitable persons
to the constituencies, Robert Levvin and Bertram Ander-
son were elected members for Newcastle. Their tenure of
office was not of long continuance, though it was marked
by the annexation of Gateshead to Newcastle, and the
division of the bishopric of Durham. Queen Mary came
in during the summer, and the Reformers went out. Her
Council, adopting the tactics of their predecessors,
" recommended " their nominees so strongly that "very
few Protestants were chosen," and Sir Robert Brandling
regained his seat.
Twice more — in 1555, under Queen Mary, and in 1563,
under Queen Elizabeth — the lord of Gosforth and Felling
was sent to represent bib native town of Newcastle in the
House of Commons ; once more — in the municipal year
1564-5 — he was elected Mayor of the town and Governor of
the Merchants' Company. Between whiles he served on
commissions and inquisitions, and discharged the various
duties attaching 'oo his office as an alderman and magis-
trate. From a complaint made against him at the Privy
Council by Cuthbert Bewicke, it would appear that in
March, 1562, he was accused of treason ; if so, the charge
must have broken down, for it was in the following
December that he received the honour of election for the
last time to Parliament.
Shortly after the feast of Pentecost, 1568, when his
younger brother, Henry, was Mayor of Newcastle, Sir
Robert Brandling died. He left no lawful issue, and he
had made no proper will. A paper writing, purporting to
be a testamentary deed, but apparently a forgery, was ex-
hibited by the Mayor at the Consistory Court of Durham,
and the examination which followed led to some remark-
able and not very creditable disclosures respecting family
affairs, all of which may be read in "Depositions and other
Ecclesiastical Proceedings from the Courts of Durham, "
published by the Surtees Society. William Brandling.
nephew of Sir Robert, who was away at the time, having
" suddenly, upon a displeasure, departed into Flanders, "
was declared to be the true and undoubted heir to his
extensive possessions, and he obtained them, and held
them in spite of the efforts of his relatives to dislodge
him. About this somewhat obtrusive member of the
Brandling family, his drunken brawl in St. Andrew's
Churchyard, and other immoralties, there is enough, and
more than enough, in the same Surtees Society's volume.
Robert
THE TCHBULENT SQUIB E.
Luxurious, avaricious, false, deceitful,
Sudden, malicious, smacking of every sin
That has a name. i>h,akspearc.
William, son of Thomas Brandling, who, as we have
seen, succeeded in 1569 in establishing his claim to the
estates of his uncle, Sir Robert, did not long outlive
his victory. Having sown his wild oats, and married
a daughter of the Newcastle family of Holey, he settled
down to enjoy his fortune. But he had been no more
than six years lord of Gosforth and Felling when he
died. On the 2nd October, 1575, he was buried at
Jarrow, leaving a wife with two infants, a girl and a boy,
to succeed him. The younger born of the two children, a
boy aged nine months at the date of his father's death,
inherited the property, and, unfortunately, he inherited
at the same time a large share of his father's quarrel-
some disposition, " Robert Brandling, heire of Felling,''
as the baptismal register of Jarrow names him, grew
up to be an exceedingly headstrong, wilful, and turbulent
personage — a man who terrified the clergy, astonished
the populace, and disturbed everything and everybody
that came within the range of his influence.
When he was about thirty years of age, Robert
Brandling did homage for his manor of Felling to the
Dean and Chapter of Durham. In 1610 he obtained
from King James I. a grant of the site of the Abbey of
Newminster; six years afterwards he added the ancient
patrimony of the Lisles in South Gosforth to his North
Gosforth manor, and about the same time obtained the
fertile lands of Alnwick Abbey. The shrievalty of
Northumberland came to him in 1617 ; he was elected
M.P. for Morpeth in 1620 ; from which date his public
life and noisy career may be said to have begun.
One of his early manifestations involved the Corpora-
tion of Newcastle. The journals of the House of
Commons report that on the 26th March, 1621, he moved
that the patent of Newcastle coals might be brought in
"whereby they have received £500,000, and the hostmen
impose 2d. upon a chaldron, whereby they have raised
£200,000." This was a hostile movement against a local
monopoly. It did not succeed at the moment, but
within a month the Commons had included the *(coal
monopoly by Newcastle " in a list of grievances which
they sought to have redressed. Meanwhile, the Mayor
68
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
{February
1889.
and Aldermen revenged themselves by reporting, as con-
servators of the Tyne, that they had failed to obtain
reformation of abuses at Felling Wharf, which was in a
state of decay, and had had soil thrown upon it, some of
which had fallen into and obstructed the river. Then he
set the Government at defiance, for, being appointed in
1629 for the second time High Sheriff of Northumberland,
he refused to serve, and fled into Scotland. From thence
he returned, and, making his peace with the Privy
Council, accepted the office, in order, as was believed, to
annoy the burgesses of Alnwick and the ecclesiastical
authorities, with whom he had been for some time at
variance. Among other high-handed proceedings, being
lay impropriator of the parish of Alnwick, he claimed the
pews on the north side of the chancel of Alnwick Church,
and went and occupied the seats of the Duke of North-
umberland— defying both the duke and the church-
wardens to remove him. For this and similar offences he
was excommunicated — a penalty which he held in
contempt and openly disregarded. Then he dragged
sixteen burgesses of Alnwick before the Star Chamber,
and they in return went the length of petitioning the
Privy Council to take him in hand, alleging that not only
did he abuse the Church and Churchmen, but had
" several times laboured to take the life of his own
children." He had become, in fact, unmanageable and
unbearable, and the whole county rang with his offences
and misdemeanours.
What these were may be gathered from the " Acts of
the High Commission Court at Durham" (Surtees Society,
vol. 34. ) He was cited to appear before the Court on
the 9th of August, 1633, charged with various offences.
Remarkable evidence was given against him. For
example, at Shilbottle Church, one Sunday after prayers,
he called the vicar a "scabt scounderell, priest, or
fellow.'' To Alnwick Church he took a Scotchman,
and insisted upon his preaching there, and when the
curate remonstrated he called him " base rascall, idle,
druncken rogue," and did " jumpe him on the breast with
a little staffe," and struck him over the shoulder.
Another clergyman of Alnwick he abused in the street,
telling him he was a " druncken rogue, rascall, hedg-
rogue, and the sonne of a hedg-rogue, " and that he would
draw both him and his father "at horse tayies and
banish them the countrie." To Lesbury Church, where
venerable Patrick Makilvian (who lived to be a cen-
tenarian) was vicar, he went on a Sunday afternoon, and
laying claim to the chancel, ordered the clerk's stall to
be pulled down. The vicar told him that no one had
a right to displace the clerk but the Bishop and his
court, to which Brandling answered that the proudest
bishop in England durst not meddle with his inheritance,
and if the vicar interfered he would pull down his seat
and reading pew, and as for the " usurping bishops " and
their courts they were but "bawdy" courts to oppress
people and get money for themselves, while the High
Commission Court at Durham was "the most wicked
court in England. " He further abused him, calling him
a "Gallaway rogue," and threatening to "ly him in
prisonn till he sterved and stincked." The Dean of
Durham he called "Mr. Devill of Durham," and so on.
All the evidence went to show that this degenerate
descendant of Sir Robert Brandling was a most quarrel-
some, abusive, and immoral man.
It does not appear that the delinquent paid much atten-
tion to the proceed ines of the Commission. He appeared at
one or two of the early sittings, and, being contumacious,
was committed to gaol ; but he broke the prison, and set
subsequent citations at defiance. So witnesses were
examined, and the judgment of the Court was pro-
nounced in 1634- in his absence. The Commissioners
sentenced him to imprisonment during the king's pleasure,
to be excommunicated, to make public submission in the
church of Alnwick, and in St. Nicholas', Newcastle, on
several Sundays, and to pay a fine of £3,000 and costs.
Whether Robert Brandling paid the fine, or whether
he remained contumacious to the last, are questions that
cannot be answered. Crown and Church had soon more
serious matters on their hands than the punishment of a
reprobate Northumbrian, and it is possible that, in the
troubled times which followed, the delinquent and his
delinquencies were overlooked and forgotten. The date
of his death is also unknown. One "Robert Branling "
was buried in St. Nicholas' Church, Newcastle, in 1636,
but there is no evidence to identify him as the turbulent
squire, and conjectures are useless. All that can be said
for certain is that, having been twice married, first to
Jane, daughter of Francis Wortley, of Wortley, and
secondly to Mary, daughter of Thomas, Baron of Hilton,
he left six sons, the eldest of whom, afterwards Sit
Francis Brandling, of Alnwick Abbey, succeeded him,
and that none of them inherited, in any marked degree,
their father's propensities.
M.P., AND FOUNDEK OF THE N.N.V.C.
Brandling for ever and Ridley for aye,
Brandling and Ridley carries the day :
Brandling for ever and Ridley for aye.
There's plenty of coals on our waggon way.
—Pitman's Sony.
Sir Francis Brandling, eldest of the six sons born of
the marriages of the quarrelsome Alnwick squire, was
elected M.P. for Northumberland during his father's
lifetime. He sat in the last Parliament of King James
I., and the first Parliament of King Charles I. (Feb.,
1624, to Aug., 1625), and in 1627 was High Sheriff of the
county. Like his father, he was twice married. Like
him, als», he had six sons. There was no immediate
fear, therefore, of the race dying out. His heir, Charles
Brandling (1) wedded Annie Pudsey, of Plessy — an
heiress, whose mother was a Widdrington. The third
son of this marriage, Ralph Brandling, sold Alnwick
February
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
69
Abbey to John Doubleday, a Quaker, and brought (by
marriage) the estate of Middleton, near Leeds, into
the family. Dying without progeny, as two elder
brothers had done before him, he left Middleton to the
next heir — his brother Charles Brandling (2), who had
married Margaret, daughter of John Grey, of Howick,
ancestor of Earl Grey. Ralph Brandling (2) the only SOD
•of Charles Brandling (2) inherited Felling, Gosforth, and
Middleton, and transmitted them to his second son,
Charles Brandling number three.
A considerable interval of abstinence from public
affairs on the part of the Brandling family had occurred
since Sir Francis held high office in the county of
Northumberland. Charles Brandling the third was
destined to end it. He was united on the 1st September,
1756, to Elizabeth, heiress of John Thompson, of
Shotton, and shortly afterwards, finding the old seat
of the Brandlings at Felling inadequate to his ideas
of a family residence, he erected Gosforth House, and
took up his permanent abode there. During twenty
years, surrendering most of his time to local business,
and making himself useful and popular in town and
county, he prepared himself for more responsible duties.
In 1784, having a couple of years earlier filled the office
of High Sheriff of Northumberland, he was elected with
Sir Matthew White Ridley to represent Newcastle in
Parliament. Opposition to his return had been threat-
ened by Stoney Bowes, the profligate husband of Lady
Strathmore, who had represented the town in the
previous Parliament, but it did not reach the polling
booth. Such was the influence of the united names of
Ridley and Brandling in Newcastle, that for many
years no one ventured upon a hostile candidature. When
Mr. Brandling retired, at the close of 1797, the seat
was taken, as a matter of course, by his son, Charles
John, born February 4, 1769.
Charles John Brandling entered public life with every
possible advantage in his favour. The family influence
was far-reaching ; the family relationships were wide-
spreading. Four of his sisters were married — Eleanor to
William Ord, of Fenham ; Margaret to Rowland Burdon,
of Castle Eden, the builder of Wearmouth Bridee ; Eliza-
beth to Ralph William Grey, of Backworth ; Sarah to
Matthew Bell, of Woolsington. He himself had been
united, four years previous to his election, to a daughter
of the ancient house of Hawksworth, of Hawksworth in
Yorkshire. His wealth, too, if not profuse, was abund-
ant. Improved methods of cultivating the soil and a
growing demand for mineral fuel were increasing the
revenues of his inheritance; and Gosforth and Felling
were taking their place among the most profitable estates
upon Tyneside. Riches, county influence, and the un-
bounded confidence of a powerful borough constituency
form admirable stepping stones to a useful and prosperous
career. Possessing all these, young Mr. Brandling be-
'Came the rising hope of the Tory party in this district ;
justifying their expectations, he was returned unopposed
to three successive Parliaments— those of 1802, 1806, and
1807. It does not appear that he made any great figure
Chas Jni Brandling.
in the House ; but he kept his party well together in
Newcastle, and became a recognised leader of Conserva-
tive thought and feeling in Southern Northumberland.
At the dissolution in 1812, when he had been fifteen
years M.P. for Newcastle, Mr. Brandling withdrew from
Parliament. Not that he was tired of political life, for he
continued to inspire the local adherents of his party, and
to guide them by his counsel as before. But other and
equally important matters demanded his attention. All
over the North of Engrland men's minds were occupied
by the growing power of steam — perplexed by problems,
and sustained by possibilities, of applying that subtle and
potent agent to purposes of locomotion, both by land and
water. At the Yorkshire collieries of the Brandlings
John Blenkinsopp was already, as we have seen, working
his patent " iron horse"; nearer home George Stephenson
and William Hedley were experimenting in the same
direction. It was evident that with every fresh appli-
cation of steam to engineering more coal would be
required, and Mr. Brandling found it necessary to
curtail his Parliamentary course in order to watch over
his great mining enterprises, and prepare for their exten-
sion and development.
George Stephenson lived at this time, and for many
years afterwards, at the village of West Moor, adjoining
the eastern entrance to Gosforth House. Mr. Brandling
was a watchful observer of his proceedings, and became
one of his earliest friends and supporters. A disastrous
explosion at Mr. Brandling's Felling Colliery, in 1812,
led to the invention of the safety lamp, and when the
rival claims of Sir Humphrey Davy and George Stephen-
70
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
February
son to the honour of that invention were being discussed,
Mr. Brandling took the side of his humble neighbour. A
sum of £2,000 had been presented to Sir Humphrey, and
one hundred guineas to Stephenson — a distinction which
gave the friends of the latter offence. Mr. Brandling
was consulted, and advised Stephenson to publish a
statement of the facts upon which his claim was founded.
The latter, with the aid of his son Robert, drew up a
narrative, and when it was finished, after many correc-
tions, and fairly copied out, father and son, Dr. Smiles
tells us, set out to put the joint production before Mr.
Brandling at Gosforth House. Glancing over the letter,
Mr. Brandling said, "George, this will never do." "It
is all true, sir," was the reply. " That may be, but it is
badly written," and, taking up his pen, the squire revised
the letter and fitted it for publication in the local news-
papers. He took the chair at a public meeting which
followed, and when a subscription for Stephenson,
amounting to £1,000, had been raised — towards which
he and his various partners contributed 275 guineas — he
presided and made the presentation. The Newcastle
Chronicle, reporting the proceedings, adds : — " The
cheerful and convivial spirit displayed by the chairman
soon infused itself into the company, and rendered this
meeting, from its commencement till its close, a scene of
festivity and good-humour seldom witnessed."
The " convivial spirit displayed by the chairman" was
a characteristic of the English gentleman in those
roystering days of the Prince Regent. People dined
together, not wisely perhaps, but well and often ; and
there were public gatherings and patriotic demonstra-
trations, which always meant unlimited health-drinking
and song-singing — the "feast of reason and the flow of
soul." In this way every year, by organizations called
Pitt Clubs, "the immortal memory of William Pitt"
was revered. Of the Northumberland and Newcastle
Pitt Club, started in 1813, Mr. Brandling was a founder
and the first President.
The martial ardour that found expression at these
convivial clubs was consolidated shortly after their
formation by commercial depression and general dis-
content. Riot and tumult broke out all over the
country, and the moneyed classes feared a general in-
surrection. To allay these fears and prepare for eventu-
alities in the North of England, there was formed in
December, 1819, under Mr. Brandling's command, " The
Northumberland and Newcastle Volunteer Cavalry,"
to which was attached a troop of dismounted
yeomanry raised in Newcastle. Before, however, the
movement could be made effective the death of
George III. involved a dissolution of Parliament,
and Mr. Brandling's military aspirations were engrossed
in political warfare. At the previous general election
(1818) Mr. Thomaa Wentworth Beaumont had been re-
turned, in succession to his father, as the colleague of Sir
C. M. L. Monck, in the representation of the county, and
his conduct in Parliament had given his Conservative
supporters good ground for dissatisfaction, for, as ex-
plained in the sketch of that ardent politician (Monthly
Chronicle, vol. ii., p. 194), Mr. Beaumont, instead of sup-
porting the Conservative Government, voted frequently
with the Whigs. It was determined, therefore, that a
candidate whose views and votes could be trusted should
be brought out to oppose him. No one was considered so
capable of overcoming the territorial influence of the Beau-
mont family as Mr. Brandling, and he was induced to
come out of his retirement and fight for his principles and
his party. Preparations were made for a severe con tes
but the call to battle had barely become audible when
Sir Charles Monck declined to renew his candidature,
and Mr. Brandling was returned to Parliament as the
colleague of the man whom he had intended to exclude.
On the 13th of December, 1823, the Town Moor of
Newcastle was the scene of an interesting event. The
Volunteer Cavalry assembled there at an extraordinary
parade, and with admiring ladies and civilian friends
massed around, Major Sir Charles Loraine, presented
"the lieutenant - colonel commanding, Charles John
Brandling, M.P.," with a copy of "the celebrated
Warwick vase, found in Herculaneum, " weighing " up-
wards of three hundred ounces," and, adds the chronicler,
with visions of conviviality flitting through his brain,
capable of holding "about eight quarts"! This was
almost his last public appearance. In little more than
two years afterwards, within three days of his fifyy-
seventh birthday, he was summoned to a higher court
than the High Court of Parliament, and a few days
later his remains were buried at Gosforth.
Summarising Mr. Brandling's political and social life,
the editor of the Newcastle Magazine for June, 1826, states
that, although he never made any pretensions to literary
power, his conversation was that of a man of cultivated
taste, and of an enlarged and well-informed mind. He
was remarkably quick in his perception of genius in
the fine arts, and equally eager to patronise it. To
William Nicholson he gave commissions to paint groups
of old servants, portraits of friends, and pictures of
favourite animals. He purchased Henry Perlee Parker's
painting of celebrated characters in Newcastle, and em-
ployed him to paint a companion picture of a merry-
making in the servants' hall at Gosforth House, intro-
ducing portraits of the domestics. In private life, his
hospitality and his urbane and generous disposition were
proverbial. " His manly and candid manner, his cour-
teous behaviour to his friends and acquaintances, and
his affable demeanour to all ranks were such as it would
be difficult to parallel amongst men of similar wealth and,
connexions. His was the unostentatious and expansive
and all-embracing hospitality of an ancient English
Baron. He carried you back to the welcome and the-
cheer of feudal times, without reminding you of their
servility. "
February!
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
71
Mr. Brandling left three brothers, the eldest of whom,
the E«v. Ralph Henry, succeeded to the property. To
this clerical representative of the Brandlings came the
misfortune of seeing the estates, which his family had
held for 300 years, pass into the hands of strangers. He
outlived his younger brother, Robert William, projector
of the Brandling Junction Railway, chairman of the coal
trade, and one of the receivers of Greenwich Hospital ;
outlived also his brother John, Sheriff of Newcastle in
1828-29, and Mayor in 1832-33 ; and died in Newcastle on
the 26th of August, 1853, at the venerable age of 81 years
— " the last of the long roll of Brandlings " of Gosforth
and Felling.
Cftalltrfartr.
j]HOLLERFORD is a hamlet in the township
of Humshaugh and parish of Simonburn
thirteen minutes' ride by rail N.W. from
Hexham, on the Waverley Routa to Edin-
burgh. It stands on the west side of the North Tyne, in
the midst of lovely scenery. The village itself has
nothing particular about it, but it is much frequented
by anglers, and the inn, which is a conspicuous object
in our engraving, is one of the most comforable in
Northumberland. Moreover, Chollerford is a capital
starting point for tourists bent on surveying the Roman
Wall, and particularly the neighbouring station of
Cilurnum, or Walwick Chesters, the proprietor of
which, Mr. John Clayton, has unearthed a "rowth" of
Roman antiquities such as is scarcely to be met with
anywhere else.
The modern name Chollerford is a mere modification of
the ancient British appellative of the place— Coill-uirin,
"wood and water," corrupted by the Romans into
Cilurnum— and with the Anglian " ford " added. In
long-past, pre-historic times, sun and moon worship must
have been prevalent here, for the Romans, whose usual
practice it was to incorporate in their theology and place
in their pantheon the gods whom they found worshipped
in the lands they conquered, raised altars at Cilurnum to
the Moon goddess, known to the Britons as Comh-bhan-
teinne, Latinized Coventina, " the lady companion of the
God of Fire," the Sun.
As the Tyne is subject to sudden floods, which come
down almost like a wall of water, with little or no warn-
ing, when there has been heavy rain up among the fells,
the fords and stepping-stones by which it could ordinarily
be crossed must have been always unsafe ; and so the pro-
vident Romans would lose no time in setting about the
building of a bridge, by which to keep open their com-
munications east and west in all seasons and weathers.
It had long been known that the vestiges of a Roman
bridge were to be seen in the river opposite to Cilurnum,
and within a short distance south of the modern village ;
but the land abutment on the eastern side, which is by
far the most striking feature of the work, was not dis-
covered till the year 1860. Successive beds of sand and
gravel had for ages encumbered it ; and at the time of its
discovery a fir plantation grew upon this deposit, which
had the fallacious appearance of a moraine, or glacier-
debris heap. The river, too, which runs very rapidly,
and is subject, as already observed, to great floods, for-
saking for some distance at this place its ancient bed, had
left the abutment dry, completely submerging the corres-
ponding work on the opposite side. Dr. Bruce tells us
that it was at the suggestion of Mr. William Coulson, of
Corbridge, that Mr. Clayton engaged in the explorations
which revealed to archaeologists this fine specimen of the
engineering skill of the Romans. Alexander Gordon, in
his "Itinerarium Septentrionale," published in 172b,
describes the bridge as he saw it in the beginning of last
century ; and a plan of the whole structure, and a
bird's-eye view of the eastern abutment, is given in Dr.
Bruce's great work on the Roman Wall. There were
three water piers, the foundations of two of which are
still easily discerned when the water is low ; and the
third, lying under the east bank of the stream, was some
time ago partly exposed ; but to prevent the river from
encroaching upon the erections immediately behind it, it
was found necessary to restore the bank to its original
state.
Agricola is believed to have first formed the adjoining
station, and also to have thrown some sort of bridge
across the Tyne ; but the works were certainly recon-
structed or partly repaired by the Emperor Lucius Sep-
timus Severus and his undutiful sons, in the beginning of
the third century. The Notitia place the prefect of the
second wing (ala) of the Astures at Cilurnum ; and these
" Sons of Somebody " (hidalgos) from the skirts of the
bleak snow-clad Vinnian Mountains, in Northern Spain,
would find here, though in a latitude twelve degrees
nearer the Pole, a climate milder than their native air,
and scenery unsurpassed for beauty by any to be found in
their native valleys. That it was an important station
plainly appears from the number of Roman roads that
converged upon it, and the great variety of inscribed
stones, altars, votive tablets, &c., dug up on its site.
Some have conjectured that it was here the Emperor
Alexander Severus was murdered by the mutinous
soldiers in the year 235, and that Elfwald, King of
Northumbria, called by Simeon of Durham " a pious and
upright king," was slain in A.D. 788 ; the locality, at any
rate, was "near the Wall," and Elfwald was buried at
Hexham.
During the troublous times that succeeded the fall of
the Roman Empire, the bridge over the Tyne at Cilur-
num must have been destroyed ; and, when better days at
length dawned on Nortumberland, another bridge on
another site was erected. In the reign of Richard II.,
Bishop Skirlaw granted a release from penance, for thir-
72
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
( February
O
B
February \
1889. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
73
r-^-n^^ |- ^-^=£-^^-^i
^ ^jt ^J!jr_:
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
teen days, to all who would contribute by labour or
money to the repair of this bridge, which had fallen into
decay "by the inundation of the waters," " whereby the
inhabitants of the neighbourhood" were "in great dan-
ger. " It would seem that an appeal had been made on
behalf of the bridge three years before, but that it had
nought availed. Repaired, however, it now must have
been ; and it continued to be serviceable down till the
year 1771, when the ever-memorable great flood carried it
away, along with most of the other bridges on the Tyne.
Four years afterwards, the present structure was raised.
It consists of five arches, four of which are seen in our
view.
23irritarTy Castle.
I HIS ancient seat of the proud Norman family
of the Baliols is finely situated on the
north or Durham bank of the river Tees.
The ruins occupy more than six and a
half acres. The rock on which the keep of this superb
relic of feudal grandeur stands is eighty feet perpendicu-
lar from the bed of the river. From the highest part of
the ruins the visitor enjoys a commanding, beautiful,
and most extensive prospect in every direction. Imme-
diately adjacent to the river the banks are thickly
wooded ; at a little distance they are more open and cul-
tivated ; but, being interspersed with hedge-rows and
isolated trees of great sire and age, they still retain the
richness of woodland scenery. The river itself flows in a
deep trench of solid rock, chiefly limestone and marble.
The oldest part of the ruins is believed to date from at
least the eleventh century ; and tradition ascribes the
erection of the castle to Count Bernard, son of Guy
Baliol, who came into England in the train of William
the Conqueror. He is said to have been famous for feats
of arms against the Saracens, and was the ancestor of the
short and unfortunate Baliol dynasty, which succeeded
to the Scottish throne at two different epochs, under the
patronage of the first and third Edwards, kings of Eng-
land. The castle often changed masters during the
Middle Ages. Upon the forfeiture of the unfortunate
John Baliol, Edward I. seized the place, as well as the
other English estates of his refractory vassal. Bishop
Bek laid claim to it, as belonging to the regalia of his
Palatinate ; but Edward, instead of allowing the validity
of his pretensions, seized upon the Palatinate itself, with
all its pertinents, and bestowed Barnard Castle upon
Guy Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, in whose family it
continued for five generations, till it passed into the
hands of the Nevilles, on the marriage of Anne of War-
wick to Richard Neville, the King-Maker. Warwick's
daughter Anne brought the castle once more into the
hands of the Crown, through her marriage with the Duke
of Gloucester, afterwards Richard III. This over-ambi-
tious prince made it his chief residence, and strengthened
its fortifications for the purpose of bridling and suppress-
ing the Lancastrian faction in the Northern Counties.
Richard's cognizance of the " bloody and devouring boar"
still appears, not only on the walls of the castle, but in
several parts of the adjoining town.
During the reign of Henry VII., an Act of Parliament
was passed enacting that " Barney Castelle, " which was
"in theKyng'senheritaunce,"but was "a lawless place,"
in consequence of the disputed jurisdiction which the
bishopric of Durham and the counties of York and North-
umberland claimed over it, should in future be deemed to
be within the county of York only, "that ys to sey par-
cell of the Northryddyne of the same countie, any use,
custom, privilege, or other matter or thynge to the con-
trarie notwithstandynge. " This Act, however, does not
appear in any of the statute books, but a copy of it oa
parchment is preserved in the Harleian Collection in the
British Museum. How long it remained in force does
not appear.
In the reign of Queen Elizabeth, the castle waa
amongst the wide possessions of Charles Earl of West-
moreland ; and on the rumour of his and the Earl of
Northumberland's rebellion, known as " the Rising of the
North," Sir George Bowes, of Streatlam, possessed him-
self of the fortress, and resisted the whole power of the
insurgents for eleven days, surrendering at length on
honourable terms. The bridge over the Tees leading to
Startforth, which consisted in Leland's time of three
arches, is said to have been broken down during the
siege, and the present bridge, consisting of two arches
only, was subsequently built, dating from 1569. The
castle was afterwards leased to Sir George Bowes ; but
James I. granted it, on the expiry of the lease, to his
guilty and unhappy favourite, Robert Viscount Brans-
peth and Earl of Somerset, on whose attainder it again
reverted to the Crown, and was appropriated for the main-
tenance of the Prince of Wales's household. For this
purpose it was demised to Sir Francis Bacon, attorney-
general (the celebrated Lord Bacon), and others, for a
term of ninety-nine years, in trust, to empower them to
grant leases of the lordship or manor for twenty-seven
years, or three lives, under certain rents, for the prince's
benefit ; and the survivors of these grantees afterwards
assigned their rights to Sir Henry Vane, cofferer to the
king, who obtained, in the year 1635, from Charles I., a
grant of free warren, with the offices of Master-Forester
and Chief Warden of all Forests and Chases within the
demesne of Barnard Castle, for him and his heirs. Four
years later, he had sundry additional privileges conferred.
William III., in 1699, created Barnard Castle a barony,
and it now supplies one of the titles of its holder, the
Duke of Cleveland, who, besides being Earl of Dar-
lington and Baron Raby of Raby of Castle, is likewise
Viscount and Baron Barnard of Barnard Castle.
February }
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
During the Civil Wars, the castle was held for King
Charles, but Oliver Cromwell forced the garrison
to surrender, having, by the advice of a deserter
from the royal army, erected batteries on a command-
ing eminence on the Yorkshire side of the Tees, called
Towler Hill, whence he levelled the engines of destruc-
tion with such effect as to render a prolonged resistance
out of the question.
The ruins now show the remains of four courts, enclos-
« ing the space stated above, a considerable portion of
which is occupied by the gardens of a neighbouring hotel,
laid out with great taste, so as not to interfere with the
characteristic features of the place. The west or strongest
side of the castle, crowning the lofty cliff, seems to
have contained the state chambers. The south court is
cut off from the others by a deep moat, and a wall forty
feet high. The second or north-east court is in like manner
separated by a moat and wall from the two smaller courts
which lie on its west side. The third court, entered by a
bridge from the second, lies on the east side of the castle,
between the south court and the fourth court or citadel,
from which it is also separated by a moat. A small oriel
window, overlooking the Tees, still bears the boar of
Richard III., carved within ; and at the north-east angle
of this court is a great round tower, known as Baliol's
Tower, about fifty feet high, and one hundred and fifty
feet above the river, forming the principal feature in
almost every view of the castle. It bears every mark of
great antiquity, and is remarkable for the curious con-
struction of the vaulted roof. It is said to have been
greatly injured during the last French war by the opera-
tions of some persons to whom it had been leased for the
purpose of making patent shot. The area of the castle
contains Brackeubury's Tower, formerly
used as a dungeon. It has a large arched
vault, with cells, and an opening at the
top for letting down provisions to the
wretches immersed therein. The inner
and outer moats, with the sluices, and
the situation of the drawbridges, may
still be traced. In the adjoining
grounds, called the Flatts, a large
reservoir, called the Ever, was formed,
and the water collected in it was con-
veyed thence in pipes for the purpose of
supplying the garrison, as well as the
cattle enclosed within the walls of the
outer areas, in times of public danger,
for which protection the adjacent lands
paid a rent, called Castle-guard-rent.
The ruinous state in which the great
fortress now exists is said to be mainly
due, apart from the natural decay
through time and neglect, to that Sir
Harry Vane from whom Cromwell
prayed the Lord to deliver him.
ILartmgton.
Lartington, which is one of the prettiest villages in
Britain, or indeed anywhere else, and which enjoys the
rare privilege of not having a single public-house within
its bounds, is situated on the south side of the Tees, about
a mile from Barnard Castle. It is fortunate, likewise,
on account of the adjoining hall being the property and
residence of a family which may be said to have been for
several generations exceptionally considerate of the
highest interests of the people within the scope of their
influence. The Withams, of Lartington Hall, originally
from Lincolnshire, but settled for about two centuries in
the North, and adhering, like so many of the County
Palatine and Northumbrian gentry, to the Catholic
religion, have intermarried with the Howards, Staple-
tons, Silvertops, Salvins, Dunns, &c., but are chiefly re-
markable as having been, many of them, very warm
friends of popular education, and patrons as well as cul-
tivators of science. To Henry Thornton Maire Witham,
who died in 1844-, the town of Barnard Castle is indebted
for its Mechanics1 Institute, as well as its first Infant
School ; and previous to the erection of the incomparable
Bowes Museum, one of the chief attractions to intelligent
visitors was the Witham Testimonial Hall, in the Market
Place, raised as a memorial to that gentleman, who had
been president of the institute and a liberal contributor
to its funds. Mr. Witham, who was distinguished for his
love of scientific research, laid the foundation stone, in
1831, of a building attached to Lartington Hall, intended
for a museum, which he furnished with an extensive
collection of geological and mineralogical specimens, as
well as a valuable collection of paintings by the most
— j esteemed masters of
the Italian and Flem-
ish schools, with others
of more modern date.
This museum, which
is freely open to pub-
lic inspection at all
tunes, has been en-
BARNARD CASTLE, FROM THE TEES.
76
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
J February
_\ 1839
entirely remodelled under the euperintendenoe of the
Rev. Thomas Witham, who has spared no expense to
make it one of the most attractive and interesting institu-
tions of the kind to be found in England. The building
shown in our sketch is the school-house of the village.
&Otl)tr0tOtU.
The village of Cotherstone is not far from Lartington.
Near it, on a steep, verdant knoll called the Hagg, over-
looking the junction of the Balder and the Tees, is
a fragment of the mouldering wall representing the
old castle of the Fitzhughs, Lords of Romaldkirk,
the last of whom is said to have been killed by
falling, with his horse, over a stupendous rock
rising from the riverside high above the encircling
trees, and known as Percy Myre Castle, as he was re-
turning at night from hunting in Marwood Chase. This
is only one of the traditions and legends with which
the neighbourhood of Cotherstone abounds. Indeed, it is
the very centre of a rich folk-lore district. Another tra-
dition relates to a solitary rock on the adjoining moor,
called "the Butterstone," at which it is told that during
the Plague of 1636, when the fairs in the district were all
" cried down," and the grass grew in Newcastle streets, a
kind of market was held, the country people, who were
afraid of visiting Barnard Castle for fear of catching the
infection, bringing their butter, eggs, and so forth to
this stone, leaving them there, and retiring, whereupon
the townspeople came in their turn and took away the
articles, leaving the purchase money in a bowl of water,
its passage through which liquid was supposed to do
away with the risk of contagion. Down to quite a recent
date Cotherstone formed part of the parish of Romaldkirk,
but it is now constituted into a separate ecclesiastical
district, with a fine church, of which we give a view.
The village is most noted, however, for its being one of
the last places in the country where the old custom, once
general, of christening the young cattle and horses sur-
vived ; so that at one time, when its name was men-
tioned, you would hear it said, as if proverbially — " O,
aye, that's Cotherstone where they kirsen cauves."
Cotherstone cheese rivals that of Stilton in flavour. The
village is largely colonised by members of the Society of
Friends.
iternmrtt CaetU
RHE ancient town of Barnard Castle has been
the scene of several dark tragedies, one of
which, shrouded in hitherto unpenetrable
mystery, stands as a notable exception to
the popular belief that "Murder will out."
Sixty years ago, the youths and maidens of the
(town and neighbourhood were in the habit of
making frequent pilgrimages to the parish church-
yard at Startforth, on the Yorkshire side of the Tees,
to visit the grave of the hapless Hannah Latham.
This poor girl belonged to Lartington. She was an
orphan, nineteen years of age, and lived as farm servant
in the immediate vicinity. Being induced to visit
Barnard Castle, she got into a dancing-room in
a public-house, where she remained till a late hour.
A villain volunteered to see her home, and on
the way thither, at a lonely part of the road, he
took advantage of the poor girl's helplessness, committed
a brutal outrage, and, maddened by her stout resistance,
maltreated her in such a way as to cause her death. -In
the morning her dead body was found at the road side.
Singular to say, the miscreant was never discovered. In
memory of a tragedy so shocking and so mysterious, a
pretty obelisk was erected. The traveller from Barnard
Castle to Bowes, Stainmoor, or Brough may see it from
the road as he passes. There is an inscription on the
stone to this effect —
This pedestal is raised by voluntary donations to the
memory of Hannah Latham, who fell the victim of a
sanguinary villain on the Brignall Road, within a mile of
this place, on the 1st of January, 1813, and in the 19th
year of her age.
Ill-fated orphan, though no parent's tear
Was fondly shed in anguish o'er thy bier.
Yet shall thy murderer, while on earth, remain
The victim of remorse, despair, and shame.
A much older story of crime is recorded in "The
Barnard Castle Tragedy" of local collectors, Joseph
Ritson having giving it that title in his "Bishopric Gar-
land," from whence the ballad has been copied into the
legendary division of Richardson's "Local Historians
Table Book." This ballad shows how one John Atkin-
son, of Murten, near Appleby, servant to Thomas How-
son, miller, at Barnard Castle Bridge End, courted How-
son's sister Elizabeth ; how, after he had gained her
affections, he paid court to another ; how he married
this other by the treacherous advice of one Thomas
Skelton, who, to save the priest's fees, performed the
ceremony himself ; and how Elizabeth, upon hearing the
news, broke her heart, and bled to death on the spot.
The writer of the ballad, after relating Atkinson's deceit,
proceeds thus : —
Then he made all alike, Betty's no more his dear ;
Drinking was his delight, his senses to doze,
Keeping lewd company, when be should repose ;
Her money being spent, and they would tick no more,
Then with a face of brass he asked poor Betty for more.
He at length met with one, a serving maid in town ;
She for good ale and beer oft time would pawn her gown,
And at all-fours did play, as many people know —
A fairer gamester no man could ever bhow.
Tom Skelton, ostler, at the King's Arms does dwell,
Who this false Atkinson did all his secrets tell;
He let him understand of a new love he'd got,
And with an oath he swore she'd keep full the pot.
Then for the girl they sent, Betty Hardy was her name,
Who to her mistress soon an excuse did frame :
" Mistress, I have a friend at the King's Arms doth stay,
Which I desire to see before he goes away."
February \
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
77
Then she goes to her friend, who she finds ready there,
Who catch'd her in his arms — " How does my only dear?"
She says, "Boys, drink about, and fear no reckoning large,"
For she had pawned her smock to defray the charge.
They did carouse it off till they began to warm ;
Says Skelton : " Make a match ! I pray where's the harm?"
Then with a loving kiss they straightway did agree.
But they no money had to pay the priest a fee.
Quoth Skelton, seriously : "The priest's fee is large ;
I'll marry you myself, and save all the charge. "
Then they plight them both unto each other there,
Went two miles from the town, and goes to bed, we hear.
Then, when the morning came, by breaking of the day,
He had some corn to grind, he could no longer stay ;
" My business is in haste, which I to thee do tell " —
So took a gentle kiss, and bid his love farewell.
Now when he was come home, and at his business there.
His master's sister came, who was his former dear ;
" Betty," he said, " I'm wed, certainly 1 protest,"
Then she smiled in his face — " Sure you do but jest."
Then within few day's space his wife unto him went,
And to the sign o' the East, there she for him sent.
The people of the house, finding what was in hand,
Stept out immediately, let Betty understand.
This surprising news caus'd Betty fall in a trance,
Like as if she was dead ; no limbs she could advance.
Then her dear brother came ; her from the ground he took :
And she spake up and said :— " O my poor heart is broke !"
Then with all speed they went for to undo her lace,
Whilst at her nose and mouth her heart's blood ran apace ;
Some stood half-dead by her, others for help inquire ;
But, in a moment's time, her life it did expire.
"This story," says Ritson, "being both true and
tragical, 'tis hop'd 'twill be a warning to all lovers."
Barnard Castle was the scene of a more authentic
tragedy in 1845. On the 9th of August, in that year,
a tailor, named Joseph Yates, who had been drinking
the whole day, fell in the evening into the company
of three young men, named George Barker, Thomas
Routledge Raine, and John Breckon. These youths,
having discovered that Yates had some money in his
possession, determined to rob him of it. So, about
midnight, when he was in company with a woman
named Catherine Raine, the three lads, with a girl
named Ann Humphreys, followed him to a place on
the banks of the Tees known as the Sills. There,
after a short scuffle, they took his money, and then
threw him into the river, where he was drowned.
Returning over the bridge into the town, the men urged
the women to swear to secrecy ; but as Raine would not
accede to their request, she was seized, thrown over the
parapet, and was drowned also. Humphreys then swore
to keep the matter a secret, and was permitted to go
home. The bodies were found a few days afterwards.
Humphreys kept her oath inviolate for nearly a year,
and it was not till near the end of July, 1846, that
any arrests were made. Barker was apprehended at
Shildon ; Raine at Ecclefechan, in Dumfriesshire ;
and Breckon in Durham Gaol, where he was confined on
another charge. All three denied any knowledge of the
affair.
The case against them came on for trial at the York
Assizes, August, 1846, when Ann Humphreys gave
evidence to the above effect, fully inculpating the three
prisoners with the double murder ; but, inasmuch as her
testimony was not supported by other witnesses, there
was some doubt in the minds of the jury as to the pri-
soners having actually committed the capital crime, and.
a verdict of " Not Guilty " was consequently returned.
Further evidence was, however, afterwards obtained to
corroborate that of Humphreys, and the three prisoners
were arraigned on April 7, 1847, before Mr. Baron Rolfe,
for robbery only. The grand jury having brought in a
true bill, counsel for the defence put in a special plea of
autrefois acquit, which, however, was disallowed. The
trial, consequently, proceeded.
Several witnesses testified to seeing Yates in an.
intoxicated condition in the streets of Barnard Castle,
to seeing Yates with Raine, and to seeing Yates and
Ruine afterwards with the prisoners. But the evidence
of Ann Humphreys was of the most remarkable character.
As summarised in the statement of Mr. Bliss, the
counsel for the prosecution, it was to the following
effect :—
She went to bed, she stated, between twelve and one
o'clock, her sister, her father, and her child being then
asleep. Being restless and uneasy, from some unaccount-
able cause, she, without disturbing the rest of the family,
dressed herself again, and went downstairs. While
standing at the door, she saw Yates and Catherine
Raine together. Then the three prisoners joined
them, as did Humphreys herself. All six crossed the
bridge over the Tees to the Yorkshire side of the river.
Yates and the girl Raine walked before, followed by
Ann Humphreys and Thomas Raine, Barker and
Breckon bringing up the rear. As they were going along
Raine said to Humphreys: — "Yates has some money.
How must we do to get it from him ?" She replied : —
" Poor little fellow ! do not meddle with him. He will
spend it all among you." When they had proceeded
about two hundred yards along the Sills, Barker began
to quarrel with Yates relative to a coat which the
former had been charged with stealing on informa-
tion given by the latter. Barker asked Yates if he was
going to appear against him on account of the coaf
Yates answered that be was. Barker then struck
Yates several times, whereupon all three of the pri-
soners pounced upon him, rifled his pockets, and threw
him into the Tees, which was in high flood at the
time. The two girls, naturally horrified, ran back to-
wards the bridge, shouting " Murder ! " The prisoners
ran after them, stopped them, and silenced their
outcries. They threatened that they would murder
them likewise, if they would not swear secrecy.
Raine refused to keep silence, and said she would
tell the police ; and so she was seized and thrown over the
parapet of the bridge. Humphreys begged for her own
life, which was spared on her swearing most solemnly
never to divulge what she had seen.
78
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
\
February
1889.
The jury, at the close of the second trial, returned
with a verdict of " Guilty," and Mr. Baron Rolfe, in
passing sentence, used the following emphatic language :—
It is impossible for any one who has witnessed the pro-
ceedings of this trial, not to feel that you have been
guilty of two of the most barbarous murders that
perhaps the annals of crime ever furnished. You have
succeeded, undoubtedly, in defeating the ends of justice
hitherto ; and I presume that, upon the first trial,
material circumstances that have now come out in
evidence were not brought forward, either because they
had not come to light, or were not known to exist ;
for I am perfectly certain any jury which has heard
what has been detailed on this occasion could not have
the remotest doubt but that you barbarously, and not
merely, as I suspect, for objects of plunder, but from
some motives of revenge, murdered that young man,
and followed up that with equal barbarity' in murdering
the young woman ; and 1 see enough to convince me that
•ou formed the desperate plan of murdering Ann
umphreys also. I confess I feel somewhat ashamed
that the law is not able to reach you further than it is.
But this I will say to you, that whether your lives shall,
by the pleasure of God, be terminated early or protracted
late, you will live the objects of abhorrence and detesta-
tion even among your guiltv associates amongst whom
you will be placed, who will be ashamed aud contami-
nated at being with you. The severest sentence which
the law allows me I shall pass upon you, and it is that
you be severally transported across the seas, to such
place as her Majesty, by the advice of her Privy Council,
shall direct, for the space of fifteen years.
And with the expatriation of the three prisoners this
singular case closed, so far as the British public was con-
cerned. The two trials, Latimer tells us in his continua-
tion of Sykes, cost the county of York £1,309.
air, and is from an old -MS. book dated 1764, now in the
possession of the Antiquarian Society of Newcastle.
I
JJ0rtft=€crimtrt>
ljtt £tokoe.
THE DE'IL STICK THE MINISTER.
pROM the earliest ages, satire has been one of
the most powerful instruments in the hands
of poet or writer to lash those against whom
they owed a grudge, or who afforded a sub-
ject on which to exercise their talents ; and priests and
ministers of religion have been perhaps more than any
•other class the butts at which the bolts of sarcasm or
raillery have been launched.
"The De'il Stick the Minister" is a tune which has
enticed the fancy of more than one rhymster to fit it with
appropriate verse ; but the song which is here given, and
which, we believe, was composed by Mr. John Farrer, of
Netherwitton, was very popular about sixty years ago in
Northumberland. It is, too, a felicitous example of that
class of song which, pourtraying the characteristics of
some well-known individual, and wedded to an air which
everyone knew, was readily adopted and sung by the
community. The tune is a well-known Northumbrian
Our wile she keeps baith beef and yell Aud
tea to treat the Slin - is • ter; There's
nowt for me but sup the kale. The
*^=2=£=f=f
beef's for the Min - is - ter.
Be-
sides, a hot - tie keeps in by To
warm his breast when he's no drv ; While
r|=pz
De'il
ter !
Our Minister he's now fawn sick :
Waes me, the Minister !
Wha'll save us now fra Auld Nick,
Gin the Lord tak' the Minister!
Left to oursels, we ken fu' weel
The brent upstairs we canua spiel :
We'll just turn back and meet the De il,
Gin the Lord tak' the Minister.
Our Minister he has nae pride,
Ne'er a bit. the Minister ;
He just sits by our fireside,
Kin' he war no' the Minister.
He taks the gudewife by the hand,
Says, " John, man, sit : what uiaks ye stand ? "
Has a' the bairns at his command —
He's a holy man, the Minister.
The covenant he can explain —
He's a wise man, the Minister ;
Thinks na religion like his ain —
We maun think like the Minister.
The Papists are a wicked sect,
They no belang the Lord's elect ;
Gin Parliament their claims accept,
May the De'il stick the Minister 1
Our Minister, he's aft in want ;
He's a puir man, the Minister;
Whate'er he wants we a' inun grant,
We maun supply the Minister.
And aft to him a horse we lend ;
His wife and bairns on us depend,
Tho' our ainsels can hardly fend.
May the De'il stick the Minister !
Yet still he's useful in his place ;
He's a braw man, the Minister ;
At ilka feast he says the grace,
Naue fitter than the Minister ;
February
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
79
And when the glasses come in view,
He says, " We'll drink, but no Ret fou',
Sic deeds the Lord does not allow."
Yet fou' gets the Minister.
He preaches loud ; he saf t does pray ;
This says the Minister —
"Ye need no fear your dying day,
Gin ye be like your Minister.
Ye'll get abune, ye needna fear ;
Be sure that after me ye speer. "
But faith we doubt, when we get there,
We'll no see the Minister.
ir CStorge
jjN the evening of the 21st December, 1888, in
the Cottage Hospital at Hawick, at the age of
sixty-one, there passed away a man (he was a
wood-turner by trade) whose name is probably by no
means generally known throughout his native county. I
have good authority — that of one, himself a professional
man of letters, who knows the Colonies well — for stating
that in Canada, Australia, and probably the United
States, the name of James Thomson and his poems of
"Hairst" and the "Wee Croodlin Doo " are household
words. A certain amount of local reputation Thomson
did, no doubt, enjoy ; still it is difficult, in his case, to
avoid recurring once more to the hard saying concerning
a prophet in his own country. This is perhaps scarcely
the time or the place to enter upon a critical estimate of
Thomson's poetry. As a poet he has no breadth of range,
little originality in his choice of a subject, and perhaps,
in a general way, as little in his method of treating one.
Yet, in spite of all these disadvantages, the fact remains
that much of his book — "Doric Lays and Lyrics," pub-
lished by Dunn and Wright, of Glasgow — is what another
local poet in my hearing described it to be, " real poetry."
In proof of this assertion, note in particular the passages
which speak of children and the life of children. Again,
if they be not "real poetry," by what means have
Thomson's lyrics succeeded in winning their way to vast
numbers of hearts in which exile has perhaps only ren-
dered more acute the sentiment of home? It is, of
course, undeniable that a poet must be born, and cannot
be made ; but it is no less certain that a man who has
been born a poet may be made a much better one. James
Thomson of Hawick— with reverence and regret let his
name be spoken — owed all his poetry to his birth.
"Should any of these simple rhymes," he wrote in the
preface to his book, "be the means of touching a chord
in the heart, or kindling a smile of happiness or enjoy-
ment at the fireside of the sons of toil, the author will
be amply rewarded." Such was the end which he pro-
posed to himself ; and he attained it. Below is reprinted
one of the best known of his poems : —
HOGMANAY.
Up fra their cosie beds
Afore the break o' day,
Skippin' round the corner,
Brattlin' down the brae ;
Hearts a' sae happy,
Faces blithe and gay,
A merry band o' bairnies
Seek their Hogmanay.
Careless o' the blast sae bleak,
Snawy drift or shower,
Though the roses on their cheek
Turn like the blaewort flower —
Frae ilka door they're jinkin'
To hail the happy day ;
And they a' gang a linkin
To seek their Hogmanay.
Bonny bairnies, come awa'.
It's little I've to gie,
But ye shall ha'e my blessing a',
And ae babee.
When manhood's care comes o'er ye,
Ye'll mind the merry day
When, happy-hearted bairnies,
Ye sought yer Hogmanay.
at ifoto castle.
(Srainger jptreet.
architect.
J1GAIN we find ourselves at the Grey Monu-
ment, but this time we mean to saunter
along the noble street to which has been
assigned the name of Newcastle's greatest
We are within a stone's throw of Richard
Grainger's birth-place in High Friar Street, just behind
the present Dispensary. We have gazed on the mag-
nificent work of the poor widow's son — fortunate enough
to win a rich wife, though — as we have strolled down
Grey Street. Let us see now what there is to interest
us in its worthy companion and rival — Grainger Street.
Grainger Street, like Grey Street, is emphatically one of
shops, and very handsome shops too. But our readers
would scarcely thank us if we were to make an inventory
of them. We are at the principal entrance to the Central
Exchange Art Gallery and Reading Room. Shame upon
us if we pass its door indifferently, for it is one of the
sights of Newcastle.
The history of the room is interesting. Grey Street
had been laid out ; Grainger Street planned out also ;
what was to be done with this considerable triangle of
waste land left between them ? Grainger's first idea was
to erect a Corn Exchange, which, being covered, should
enable merchants and their customers to transact their
business in greater comfort than before. For at that
time the corn market was held in the open air in St.
Nicholas' Square (where the cabs now stand) on Tuesdays
and Saturdays. At eleven o'clock on these days, a man
80
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
( February
\ 1889.
who lived in Drury Lane stationed himself at the head of
it as the " Major " proclaimed the hour, and rani; his bell,
whereupon the merchants opened their sacks, and the
business began. Grainier, then, built the Exchange with
this object in view. But the Corporation of that day
would not fall in with it. They listened to the protests
of the shopkeepers in the neighbourhood of St. Nicholas'
Square ; moreover, the occupants who were beginning to
settle in Market Street declared that corn-laden carts
would be unsightly before their doors.
Well, in consequence of opposition of this sort, the Corn
Exchange project had to be abandoned. It occurred then
to Grainger that a place where the purposes of a news room
could be combined with those of a commercial exchange
was one much needed in Newcastle. Accordingly, in
1839, this building was opened as an Exchange and News
Room. Subscribers to the number of 1,132 had been
obtained ; there was, of course, the inevitable dinner, to
which some four hundred sat down, and thereat the
Mayor, Mr. John Fife, presided ; and so the scheme was
continued until December, 1869.
In that year it was found impossible to keep open the
institution any longer. The rent was too heavy ; the
support accorded was inadequate. With an enterprise
and a courage worthy of the highest praise, Messrs. T. P.
Barkas and W. Tweedy — the reputation of the latter as a
wood car.cr was then at its height in this North-Country
— came gallantly to the rescue. They determined to
carry on the News Room and the Exchange, but to add
attractions in the shape of an Art Gallery and occasional
Industrial Exhibitions. There was a general feeling of
relief when these public-spirited townsmen announced
their intention ; for it was felt that the conversion of so
noble a building into a vulgar casino, or anything of that
sort, would have been a downright calamity. Messrs.
Barkas and Tweedy re-opened the building on the first
of June, 1870, commencing with about 700 subscribers,
which have since, under the management of Mr. Barkas
(now Mr. Alderman Barkas) and his son — Mr. Tweedy
having retired — very largely increased.
The interior of the Exchange (see page 82) is striking
enough. Twelve massive pillars, arranged in semi-circular
order, mark the limits of the news room proper ; all else is
open to the general public at a fixed charge per head.
Here are the pictures, curiosities, articles of vertu, and so
forth ; here, too, are held the concerts, &c. The exterior
is in architectural harmony with the rest of Grainger's-
buildings in the neighbourhood. The corners are rounded
oil, and surmounted by domes, beneath which are massive
Corinthian columns. Few places of mere business can
boast of more elaborate embellishments than can the
shops in this part of the town.
We may now leave the Exchange. Opposite us i»
Nelson Street, chiefly notable for its Lecture Room,
which has been the scene of many animated political and
theological meetings. So far back as the year 184-3, in the
February
\
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
81
month of January, Robert Owen expounded his peculiar
system here at great length. An Irishman present at-
tempted to reply to the lecturer, but was at once uncere-
moniously ejected. He speedily returned, reinforced by
a large number of his countrymen, who were indignant at
the roughness displayed towards him. The doors being
barred against the mob, they were attacked with sticks,
broken bed-posts, chair legs, &c., until at length an
entrance was forced, when the audience beat a hasty
retreat by means of the doors and windows. Fortu-
nately, no serious personal injury was done to anyone
concerned in this foolish affray. Then, in the month of
July of that same year, John Bright addressed a crowded
meeting here on the then burning question of the Corn
Laws. In May, 1857, John Frost, the Chartist, was pre-
sented in this room with an address of congratulation
from a number of sympathising supporters of his views.
But it would be impossible to go at length through the
list of public men who have stood on the platform of the
Lecture Room, without writing, substantially, a history
of the Radical Reform party in Newcastle for the last
half-century, and that would be foreign to the purpose of
these papers. Here, amongst others, Charles Attwood
proclaimed his sturdy Radicalism, and David Urquhart
aired his characteristic views on the diplomacy of Tx>rd
Palmerston. Here Charles Larkin often thundered
against the Tories, and George Thompson brought an
indictment against other forms of slavery than that
which befel the negro, whose constant friend he was.
Mr. Joseph Cowen was a familiar figure on these boards
from his early years ; and, later on, he was in the chair
when Mr. Joseph Chamberlain first addressed a New-
castle public meeting here. Sir Charles Dilke delivered
from this platform the speech on the Monarchy which
created so much stir at the time. Mr. James Watson,
bookseller, Mr. James Gilmour, photographer, and Mr.
Thomas Gregson, watchmaker, represented the more
purely local Radicalism of Newcastle in this room on
many and many an occasion ; all three have passed into
the silent land. Theological opinion of all sorts has
found expression here, from that of Father Ignatius and
Thomas Cooper to that of Mrs. Annie Besant and Mr.
Charles Bradlaugh.
Above this room is another, formerly known as the
THE BUTCHER MARKET, NEWCASTLB-ON-TYNE.
6
82
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
'ebruary
Music Hall. Here Gavazzi has more than once declaimed
against the teachings of Rome ; here, too, Charles
Dickens came, on his second visit to Newcastle, to give
some of his popular readings from his own works. He
would not go back to the Town Hall on any account ;
indeed, he is said have denounced its internal arrange-
ments with Saxon force and emphasis. A little further
along is a Primitive Methodist Chapel, the foundation
stone of which was laid by the Rev. W. Clowes, of Hull,
on November 21st, 1837. It was finished in the following
spring, and will accommodate about a thousand persons.
A little further along still is the Cordwainers' Hall,
whose motto was that " oppression's iron hand should ever
be legally resisted." The opposite side of the way is
devoted to satisfying bodily wants in the eating and
drinking line. Here also is located the Working Men's
Club — a very deserving and creditably managed institu-
tion. The corner shop at
the Grainger Street end was
long known as "Barlow's
shop," occupied for many
years by the late Joseph
Barlow, bookseller and news-
agent.* We are now at the
corner also of what is always
called emphatically, The Mar-
ket ; and thereby hangs a
tale.
We have seen already how
Grainger made a clean sweep
of the old markets of our
town when he took in hand
the formation of Grey Street.
We may now see what he
built in the place of what he
had knocked down. In a
sense, the architect was an
iconoclast; but he was not
one altogether. He pulled
down only that he might
rebuild and restore ; and
this market building — cer-
tainly one of the finest in Erjgland, perhaps the very
finest, all things considered — is an excellent instance in
point. It was finished and ready for its purposes on the
22nd of October, 1835. Great were the rejoicings of the
public on that great day. A grand dinner was held in
the Vegetable (division of the) Market, and the then
Mayor, Mr. J. L. Hood, occupied the chair. Nearly two
thousand persons sat down ; many more would have
liked to have kept them company. It was very sensibly
resolved by the organisers of the feast that the charges
should be moderate on such an occasion ; and, accord-
* Mr. Barlow, whose cheerfulness of temper was not affected in
any way by the loss ot his eyesight, died in Northumberland
Street, on October 15, 1886, in his seventy-eighth year. (See next
paste.)
ingly, the guests at the lower part of the avenue were
only charged a couple of shillings a-head, whilst those
who sat at the upper or north-east end were required to
pay five. So great was the demand for tickets, however,
especially of the latter class, that many of them were sold
for ten and even fifteen shillings a-piece. Altogether
nine hundred tickets were thus disposed of.
Whilst the lords of creation were thus feeding, the fair
ladies, according to our amiable insular custom, were
graciously permitted to look down upon them from a
gallery specially erected for the purpose. About three
hundred took advantage of these seats. Dinner over, the
speech-making began, and some appropriate addresses
were given by Mr. Ord, M.P., Mr. John Clayton (Town
Clerk), and Mr. John Dobson. But the hero of the day,
of course, was Richard Grainger himself, who, on rising
to say a few words, was received with round after round
CENTRAL EXCHANGE AP.T GALLERY, NEWCASTLE.
of enthusiastic cheering. Of this famous dinner in our
modern local history, Mr. John Adamson, the learned
biographer of the poet Camoens, is reported to have said,
maybe with some pardonable enthusiasm : — " Nothing
was like it since the days of Belshazzar ; but instead of
a prophet predicting impending destruction, we had a
Mayor and Corporation that made the welkin ring with
shouts of coming prosperity." The banquet was held on
the 22nd ; the Market, in its various departments, was
opened for business on the following 24th.
Figures are not, as a rule, very attractive reading ; yet
we fancy that two or three here may prove interesting to
the good people who throng from all parts of the town,
and from the surrounding country-side also, to "The
February >
1889. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
83
Market." Let it be set down, then, that this temple of
trade comprises an area of 13,906 square yards, or
about two acres. Its length is 338 feet 3 inches ; its
breadth, 2*1 feet 7 inches. In the Butcher Market
proper there are four avenues, which contain 183 shops,
*ome of them, however, devoted now-a-days to the sale of
other wares. Of these shops, no less than 157 were taken
by butchers before the building was opened — a strong
proof of their confidence in the stability of the enter-
prise. There are 360 vertical windows, and 60 skylights
in the eastern avenue alone. The original Vegetable
Market is now mainly given up to the vendors of second-
hand books. In this hall, as it was originally called, there
were 55 shops and 104- windows. It is 318 feet long and
57 feet wide.
The Corporation paid £36,290 for the Markets ; but, as
a, set-off, they received £15,000 on account of the old
market which had been demolished ; so that the net cost
of the building to the ratepapers came to £21,290. On
the opening day, the meat offered for sale exceeded any-
thing previously known in the North of England ; whilst
the Green Market (for so was the Vegetable Market gen-
erally called) was distinguished by an " almost boundless
profusion " of exhibits.
Of course so notable an event in the history of our
town did not escape the local poets of the time. It
may amuse the reader to transcribe one of their
"screeds" — to use one of their own favourite words. It
runs as follows : —
THE NEW MARKETS.
(Tune — "Canny Newcassel.")
Wey. hinnies, but this is a wundorful scene,
Like some change that yen's seen in a playhoose ;
Wlie ever wad thowt that the awd Major's dean
Wad hev myed sic a capital weighhoose?
Where the brass hez a' cum f rae nebody can tell,
Some says yen thing and some says anuthor ;
But whe ever lent Grainger 't aa knaa varry well
That they mun hev, at least, had a fother.
About Lunneu, then, divvent ye myek sic a rout,
For there's nowt there ma winkers te dazzel ;
For a bell or a market, there issent a doot,
We can bang them at canny Newcassel.
Wor gratitude Grainger or sumbody's arl'd,
Yet still, mun, it myeks ye a! shuther,
Te see sic a crowd luiking eftpr this warld
Where the Nuns used te luik for the tuther.
But te yor awn interest dinna be blind,
Tyek a shop there, whatever yor trade is ;
Genteeler company, where can ye find,
Than wor butchers, green wives, and tripe ladies?
Ye see the wives naggle aboot tripe and sheep heeds,
Or washing their greens at a fountain,
Where the young Nuns used to be telling their beads,
And had nowt but thor sins te be countin' ;
There the talented lords o' the cleaver and steel
May be heard on that classicull srrund, sor,
Loudly chanting the praise o' their mutton an' veal,
Though they're losm' a happ'ny a pund, sor.
When them queer Cockney folk cum stravagin this way,
(Though aa've lang thowt we're gettin aboon them),
They'll certainly noo hae the mense just to say,
That we've clapt an extinguisher on them ;
It's ne use contending, they just may shut up,
For it's us can astonish the stranger ;
They may brag o' their lords and their aad king te boot,
What's the use on't?— they hevent a Grainger!
To the student of character, the Saturday scenes in the
Market are often full of interest. Thousands pass and
repass ; buxom heusewives and rosy lasses jostle against
sisters who have only too clearly the wearing marks of
poverty. Each tradesman, every saleswoman is on the
alert for customers, particularly if the goods are perish-
able. One class of visitors always attract attention
when they perambulate the Market, namely, the brides,
bridegrooms, and bridesmaids from the outlying country
villages. With these it seems to be the rule to "leuk
JOSEPH BARLOW.
throo the Mairkit." On their appearance they are the
observed of all observers. Nor do they seem to care
a button for the good-humoured chaff which is occasion-
ally addressed to them, especially if any of the party
are recognised as acquaintances or customers. Indeed,
they rather seem to like the obtrusive attention thus
paid them. What wonder? Why should they be angry
or we surprised? Was there ever woman yet that
wouldn't turn her head to look at a bride, and then to
criticise the husband?
Returning to Grainger Street, we notice on our lett
Market Street, with its huge drapery establishments,
where you may buy anything you want in that line,
from a pennyworth of tape to a bishop's lawn sleeves or
a duchess's sables. Shop after shop of more or less hand-
some dimensions are passed till we come to West
Grainger Street. Near the end of this substantial addi-
tion to Newcastle streets, we find ourselves between
St. John's Church and graveyard on our left, and the
Savings Bank on our right. Of the latter it is only
necessary to record here that it was founded in January,
1818. The business was at first conducted in the Mayor's
84
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
P'SS!"*
Chamber (or Parlour) in the Guildhall ; then at the
end of the Tyne Bridge ; then in the Arcade ; and now
where we see it. Crossing Westgate Road, we pass by
the Douglas Hotel, an imposing architectural pile, and,
on the other side, the County Hotel, which is an enlarge-
ment of an earlier (but substantially the same) building,
and find ourselves in front of the Central Station.
So come we to the end of this street of shops. But
we must not forget to remind the reader that the part of
the street we have just left is the palatial successor to a
narrow and not particularly inviting thoroughfare,
known as St. John's Lane, sometimes Copper Alley,
because wages were there often paid in coppers.
Mitiev 0f tfitttan.
BOUT the middle of last century, one of the
most familiar figures at Barnard Castle and
Richmond markets was John Wardell, or
Weardale, then tenant of Ketton, a farm in the town-
whip of Braffertou, two or three miles south from
Aycliffe, on the left bank of the Skerne. He was com-
monly known by the nickname of the Miser of Ketton.
There being no market at Darlington for corn in those
days, Johnny, as he was called, had to take his wheat
and other grain further afield ; and as the roads were
very bad — for the most part mere horse tracks,
and for carts quite impassable — the produce had to
be carried on the backs of pack horses, each of which bore
something like a couple of bolls. With six or eight such
horses, Johnny was wont to march in procession, riding
upon the foremost, with a very primitive saddle, made of
coarse sack-cloth, stuffed with straw, and known as Sods-
and-Sunks ; and the rest of the cavalcade followed close
behind, tied in tandem fashion, with a lad similarly
mounted on the hindmost horse. Wardell thus travelled,
as occasion served, to Barnard Castle on the Wednesdays,
or Richmond on the Saturdays, leaving home some time
the night before, so as to be ready when the market
opened. As soon as the horses had been divested of
their loads, they were taken back to the nearest
convenient place outside the town, and left
there in charge of the lad, till his master had
pot his marketing made. In this way Johnny was saved
the expense of stabling and baiting his steeds, and no
Boniface in either town ever saw a penny of Johnny's
money, for both the lad and he carried thick slices of
home-made "inaslin" bread (a mixture of wheat and
rye), and "kitchen" to it, in the shape of skim-milk
cheese, which they could moisten at their discretion with
a drink of water.
On these occasions Johnny was clad in a homespun
grey coat, manufactured from the wool of his own sheep
by his wife and daughters, the whole of whose leisure
time was filled up with spinning on the long wheel, and
woven by one or other of the country weavers who were
then to be found in every village. His feet were covered
with rough tacketed or hobnailed shoes, and his legs
with coarse woollen hoggers, which came up to above his.
knees. His knee breeches had been worn by his father
and grandfather before him. They were made of well
tanned or tawed sheepskin, and, having descended with
other heirlooms te> himself, they had become, in the service
of three generations, so thickly engrained with grease and
dirt, that, with the assistance of an old rusty nail, they
served at market the purpose of a Roman wax tablet for
the calculation of Johnny's accounts.
It was in this queer trim that Mr. Wardell appeared at
the sale of Stickabitch, a property situated between the
road from Blackwell to Croft and the Eiver Tees, and
began to make biddings for it, in competition with some
of the big-wigs from Darlington and Durham, who
were there expressly to be buyers. These gentry
eyed Johnny with supreme contempt, and rudely
questioned his ability to pay even the arles, or earnest
money, for confirming the bargain, in case the property
were knocked down to him. But Johnny, to the astonish-
ment of all, drew forth from his ample coat pocket an
old stocking foot filled with guineas, many of which
had King Charles the Second's head on the obverse
and an elephant on the reverse, showing that they were
of the original mint. The result was that the property
was knocked down to Mr. Wardell, who tabled, there and
then, not merely the arles, but the whole price, and re-
ceived a receipt in full, with an obligation by the agent of
the vendor to complete and hand over to him the neces-
sary deeds within a given time.
But Stickabitch was not the only one of Mr. Wardell's
purchases. He also owned High Beaumont Hill, in the
township of Whessoe, Aycliffe Wood, and Chapel House,
opposite Gainford. Ketton belonged to Sir Ralph
Milbanke, and Johnny, as one of his chief tenants, had a
place of honour assigned to liim at the half-yearly rent
dinners at Halnaby, when it was his habit to give the
toast of his landlord's health in the following terms : —
"I'll gie ye a worthy and respectable gentleman, Mr.
Sir Ralph Milbanke, Esquire, Knight and Baron-Knight.
I'm certain showr ye'll all drink it heartily, with all the
honours, as we're all in duty bound. Lang may he leeve,
and be a blessing to every yin connected wi' him, and
when he's called upon at length to his last account may
he get a full quittance for ony mistyeaks he may have
made, and get a front seat i' heevin."
But Johnny's ideas of another world were somewhat
gross and earthy. He was once heard to say : — " They
may talk of heevin as they will, but gie me Ketton
Greens, on which a man can grow seven crops o' yits i'
seven years, all good gift, corn and straw, and I'd be-
content to stay here for ever, if it were God's will, for I've
February 1
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
85
always held that a bird i' the hand is worth two in the
bush, and I never was a good hand at sinking. "
A friend once suggested to Johnny that he was merely
gathering money for his heire to spend, and hinted
that he would be a much wiser man if he sat still
and enjoyed himself in his old age, now that he had far
more than he could ever get through in any reasonable
way ; but Johnny replied with an air of complete content-
ment, " Beins, man, if they have as much pleasure in
spendin' Jt as I have in gatherin' 't, e'en let them be deinV
Yet, though he thus professed indifference with regard to
what his heirs might do after he was dead and gone, he
could not bear the idea of waste in any department occur-
ing under his eyes, nor had he the least grain of toleration
for the expensive follies of his more fashionable con-
temporaries. His neighbour, Mr. Stephenson of Braf-
ferton, kept a pack of harriers, and one day, when he
heard the hounds passing through that gentleman's
estate, he said to those about him, "Beins, lads, de ye
hear them jowlers yonder? Dinnot ye hear they're cryin'
esh and yak?" meaning ash and oak; for he foresaw
that the cost of the pack would by-and-by have to be met
by the sale of the timber on the estate. And when some
time afterwards he heard a new Lincolnshire pack, of a
deeper and louder tone, going past, he exclaimed. " Beins,
lads, de ye but hear 'em? They're roarin' out land and
all, land and all !" And, sure enough, Stephenson's folly
before long made complete havoc of timber, land, and all
he had.
Mr. Warden's grandsons, if all tales be true, verified
the old saying, "Gear hardly won is lightly spent," for,
instead of following their grandfather's example, they
spirited his estates through the air as soon as they had
got them into their own hands ; and as, according
to the French proverb, " Play (gaming) is the offspring of
avarice," so they became keen betting men, and are even
said to have associated with George the Fourth when he
was the leading man of the day on the turf, and the
" First Gentleman in Europe. " The result may easily be
imagined.
We have heard that, vhen farmers in South Durham
want a handful of straw to stop a hole in a corn sack, one
may still occasionally hear them say, " Run away, lad,
run away, and bring me one of Johnny Wardell's clouts,"
or varying the metaphor, "Bring me here a Barney-
Cassel wisp."
Mr. Wardell was succeeded at Ketton by the cele-
brated Mr. Charles Colling, who first introduced the
improved Durham shorthorn breed of cattle into the
district.
W. B.
R. GEORGE ROUTLEDGE, founder of the
great publishing firm which is associated with
his name, who died on December 13, 1888,
will always be remembered as one of the pioneers of
cheap literature in this country.
Born at Brampton, Cumberland, so long ago as 1812,
Mr. Routledge had reached the advanced age of 76. His
first step in business was in Carlisle, where he was ap-
prenticed to Mr. Charles Thurnam, bookseller. On the
termination of his indentures, he went to London, where
he entered into the service of Messrs. Baldwin and Cra-
dock, a firm of booksellers of the old type. Three years
afterwards he started in business on his own account,
though in a very modest way, in Ryder's Court, Leicester
Square. It was not till 1836 that he attempted publishing
upon an extended scale. His first attempt was with
"The Beauties of Gilsland Spa," but it was a failure.
He was more successful in 1843, when he published
"Barnes's Notes on the Old and New Testament," in 21
volumes. Five years later appeared the first of the great
series of "The Railway Library," of which more than a
thousand volumes have been issued. This was the com-
mencement of the era of cheap literature. Then came
Fenimore Cooper's works, followed by the novels of
Bulwer Lytton, for the copyright of which Mr. Routledge
and his partner (for he had taken a partner) paid the
86
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
I February
author £20,000. Altogether the novelist received no less
than £40,000 from this firm alone. Another of Mr. Rout-
ledge's successes was with Mrs. Beecher Stowe's "Uncle
Tom's Cabin, " of which his company sent out ten thou-
sand copies in a single day, the total sale by this one firm
being upwards of half a million copies.
Retiring from business in January, 1888, Mr. Rout-
ledge was entertained at dinner by his numerous friends.
In the course of a speech on the occasion, he related some
of his business experiences. The following extract will be
found interesting : —
In 1855 we published a beautiful edition of Longfellow's
poetical wurks, with one hundred illustrations from draw-
ings by Sir John Gilbert, engraved on wood by the
Brothers Dalziel, with a portrait on steel by Samuel
Lawrence. We spent over £1,000 on these illustrations,
and £283 more on future editions. We published similar
books to this for several years after aa Christmas books,
but the novelty having gone off, they became less remu-
nerative ; the production being so costly, we had to dis-
continue them. In 1857 we commenced publishing
Shakspearo in 50 Is. monthly parts, under the editorship
of Howard Staunton, for which he was paid £1,000; the
drawings on wood, about one thousand in number, were
made by Sir John Gilbert, and engraved by the Brothers
Dalziel. The plant of this work cost £10,000. This is
without the cost of printing and binding. In February,
1859, we brought out Part I. of an extensive work on
Natural History, in five large volumes, by the Rev. J. G.
Wood, the drawings on wood by Wolfe. Zwecker, Har-
rison Weir, and other well-known artists on natural
history subjects ; the drawings were engraved by Dal-
ziel Brothers. The plant of this work has cost £16,000,
and has paid us very well. From this date we have pub-
lished a great number of juvenile books, and several hun-
dred novels and other standard works. In 1368 Longfellow
visited this country, bringing with him an unpublished
work, "The Xew England Tragedies." Wo gave him
£1,000 for this small volume, and £500 for the translation
of Dante, and with other poetical works published at
intervals, he has received about £3,000 for copyrights in
this country. In April, 1883, we commenced the Universal
Library, edited by Professor Henry Morley, in Is.
monthly volumes, bound in cloth, comprising standard
works of the best old authors, such as Sheridan, Dante,
Emerson, Homnr, and others. Fifty-eight volumes of
this series have been published up to this time, and the
sale has exceeded our expectations. In 1836 one book
only was published, but at this date the number exceeds
over 5,000 ; so that for fifty years I can say that I have
published 100 books each year, or two a week.
The later years of Mr. Routledge's life were in part de-
voted to the acquisition of certain estates in Cumberland
which had at one time belonged to his ancestors. Every
year he went to reside at Cumrenton, where these estates
were situated. As a matter of fact, he never lost his
interest in the place of his birth. He was made a Justice
of the Peace for Cumberland in 1877, and was afterwards
appointed Deputy Lieutenant. In the year 1882-3 he
served the office of High Sheriff.
Mr. Routledge was twice married, his first wife being
Miss Warne, by whom he had three sons and three
daughters ; his second wife was Miss Mary Bell, sister of
Sir Isaac Lowthian Bell, by whom he leaves one son and
one daughter.
We are indebted to the London Stereoscopic Company,
54, Cheapside, for permission to publish the portrait
which accompanies this notice.
antr tfte
||HE house sparrow (Passer domesticus), even,
more so than the pert and confiding robin,
is familiar to the residents of town and
country alike. Like the poor, they are "always with us,"
especially if the weather be extra severe, when they
gather, with other small birds, at our doors and in back
yards in search of food. At such times a party of say
half-a-dozen sparrows are often bullied by a single robin,
and driven away from the food, only to return again a
minute or so afterwards. The cock and hen sparrow,
even the young, are handsome, well-marked birds when
they reside in the country ; but in towns, owing to the
dust and smoke, they always look draggled and dingy,
though in all conditions they are invariably pert, cheerful,
and pugnacious. The latter peculiarity is most observ-
able in the pairing season (Mr. Duncan's drawing shows a
cock sparrow in its nuptial plumage), when a dozen birds
may sometimes be seen fighting together at once, even
in the middle of a busy road or street. But at all times
of the year, except in cold, wintry weather, they may
be found quarrelling.
From time out of mind the cheery and cheeky sparrow
has been hotly persecuted by agriculturists and horti-
culturists as a destroyer of grain and fruit. But, where
not unduly numerous, these familiar and omnipresent
birds, despite what has so often been said to the con-
trary, do a vast amount of good in fields and gardens by
destroying the grubs and insects which prey on the pro-
duce. In summer, when sparrows are rearing their
young— though in mild weather I believe some of them
breed nearly all the year round— they may be seen in
numbers in gardens hawking after and catching butter-
flies almost as nimbly and successfully as the spotted fly-
catcher. Mr. John Hancock, the eminent Northern
ornithologist, has a good word for these birds. As Mr.
February >
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
87
Hancock remarks, undoubtedly the sparrow takes grain
when he can get it, which is only during the time of har-
vesting, but "our sociable little friend ought to be cre-
dited with devouring also the seeds of weeds, and thus
materially assisting in keeping the land clean."
Our little friend has a wide European range, and latterly
he has established himself in America and Australia.
Moreover, I have seen him at Simla, in India, close to
the Himalayas.
The hedge sparrow (Accentor modularis) is not really a
sparrow. Though resident with us, it is a member of the
warbler family, and it may often be heard in song very
early in the year, and even in severe weather, if the
warm rays of the sun enliven the wintry scene. It has
many common names in various parts of the country ;
but its most descriptive and appropriate name is the
hedge warbler. It is also known as the shuffle-wing,
winter fauvette, hedge creeper, hedge chanter, dunnock,
hempie, bluey, and hedgie. The latter, so far as I know,
are the most common names of the bird in the North of
England and South of Scotland. This modest, nnns-
suming, and highly useful bird feeds almost exclusively
on worms and insects, and is of great service to gardeners
and agriculturists. It is an all-the-year-round resident
with us, and in very severe winters many perish through
cold and lack of food.
The bird figured in our second engraving is found over
the most parts of Europe, from Italy to the Scandinavian
countries, as also in Asia and AsiaMinor. Its song is sweet
and cheery, and almost as loud as the more self-assertive
robin. It is an early- breeding bird, and when the hedge-
rows are just commencing to bud, its nest is only too
easily detected by the marauding schoolboy, who too fre-
quently cannot resist the temptation of appropriating its
beautiful greenish-blue eggs.
The cuckoo not unfrequently selects the nest of the
hedge sparrow (but more frequently that of the meadow
pipet) in which to deposit her egg. When the eggs are
hatched, the greedy young cuckoo hustles the legitimate
nestlings out of the nest. The old " hedgies " feed the
young gourmand as if it was their own offspring, and even
carefully tend and feed it after it has left the nest, and
till it can procure its own food. Aristotle, who was em-
ployed by Alexander the Great as a naturalist during his
protracted campaigns, asserted that the young cuckoos
eventually destroyed their foster parents ; and the fool in
Shakspeare's " King Lear " seemed to be of the same
opinion when he referred to the poor old monarch's un-
filial daughters : —
The hedge sparrow fed the cuckoo so lone
That she had her head bit off by her young.
As the young cuckoo has a very large gape — I have heard
a Northern boy say "the beggor was aall gob " — it may
occasionally kill its foster parents, when feeding it, but
not intentionally, I think.
The nest of the hedge sparrow is usually found in
hedges, hedge bottoms, or detached thorn bushes ; but
occasionally I have found its nest in low trees, and even
amongst the rafters of a lonely cattle shed in the fields. It
has also been known to build in a disused garden roller,
and in other rather eccentric and unusual situations.
The nest is generally well-built and symmetrical, the
inside warmly lined with grass, wool, or hairs. Two
broods, except where accidents or robberies occur, are
usually reared in the season, the first occasionally as soon
as the middle or end of March. Sometimes, however,
three broods may be reared in an early and favourable
season. The young birds are lighter in plumage than the
old ones, until the moult takes place about August. The
nest plumage is much mottled, and tufts of down may be
seen adhering to the young birds, especially about the
head, for some time after they leave the nest and are
fairly strong on the wing. The male bird is from five to
six inches in length. The female in plumage closely
resembles the male, but is rather smaller, and the lower
part of the back is slightly more olive-coloured.
HEXRT KEEE.
j]X interesting exhibition of toys, contributed
for poor and sick children by the members
and friends of the Dicky Bird Society, in
response to an appeal made by Uncle Toby,
conductor of the Children's Corner in the Newcastle
Weekly Chronicle, was opened in the Academy of Arts,
Blackett Street, Newcastle, on Monday, December 24-,
1888. The collection, which was admirably arranged by
a number of volunteer assistants, and presented an ex-
ceedingly varied and attractive display, consisted of 7,615
articles, in this total being included 2,500 packets of
sweets presented by Uncle Toby himself.
The inaugural ceremony was performed by the Mayor
of Newcastle (Mr. Thomas Kichardson), who alluded
88
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
[February 1889.
,\\ x i i *, '. ^ssJ-^&^fc 32 ^gr £^ .-/art
\\\ \ = j» -^ »i »*f SfS^BP rsl^WV
ix 5zr:
February 1
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
89
to the origin and growth of the Dicky Bird Society,
which at present had an aggregate of 164,000 members.
Addresses expressive of sympathy with the objects of the
movement were also delivered by the Sheriff (Mr.
William Button), the Rev. Dr. Bruce, the ex-Mayor of
Newcastle (Mr. W. D. Stephens), the Rev. Canon Lloyd,
vicar of Newcastle, Dr. Rutherford, the Rev. Canon
Franklin, and the Mayor of Gateshead (Mr. Alderman
Lucas).
The articles again remained on view on the 26th, and
on the evening of that day the closing address was de-
livered by Mr. Alderman Barkas, who expressed a hope
that the company would all be ready to co-operate with
Uncle Toby and his coadjutors in a similar undertaking
next year. The exhibition, during the two days, was
visited by nearly 20,000 persons, and, so far as the man-
agement knew, not one article was destroyed or removed.
The presents were despatched to the various institutions
on the following day.
The sketch of the interior of the Academy of Arcs
which accompanies this article was taken before it was
found necessary to construct additional tables, running
the entire length of the room, to accommodate the whole
of the contributions Uncle Toby had received. Our
drawing, however, gives some idea of the interesting
spectacle.
90
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
I February
I 18S9
Slje llta&emg of $,rtjs.
Half a century ago, Thomas Miles Kichardson, the
celebrated local artist, established an annual exhibition of
pictures by British artists, first carried on under the title
of the "Northumberland Institution," in Brunswick
Place, Newcastle, and afterwards (in conjunction with
Mr. H. P. Parker, another distinguished local painter) in
the Academy of Arts, Blackett Street.
The building which is shown in our view, and in which
Uncle Toby's exhibition of toys was held, was designed
by Mr. John Dobson, and erected by the well-known
builder, Mr. Richard Grainger. Building operations com-
menced on September 15th, 1827, and the edifice was
opened to the public on June llth, 1828, the occasion
being an exhibition of works of art, including costly
models of St. Paul's, London, and St. Peter's, Rome,
which were lent from the museum at Ravensworth Castle.
The total number of oil paintings and water-colour draw-
ings on view was 315 ; there were a dozen models, busts,
and studies, and eleven pencil drawings ; making a total
of 338 objects of art. The principal exhibitors were T.
M. Richardson, who sent 15 pictures ; and H. P. Parker,
who was represented by no less than 23. Among the
other local artists who sent pictures were : — G. Balmer,
Jun., J. W. Carmichael, E. Landells, G. B. Richard-
son, (brother of T. M. Richardson), T. M. Richard-
son, Jun., C. TeiTot, J. R. Ryott, R. S. Scott, J. Bouet,
and W. Wailes. The following non-residents were also
represented :-— J. M. W. Turner, A. W. Calcott, F.
Danby, John Wilson Ewbank, Copley Fielding, G.
Lance, J. Linnel, W. Mulready, and R. Pickersgill.
The exhibition closed on the 13th of September the same
year.
The building was again opened on October 6th follow-
ing for the "exhibition of pictures by the most celebrated
ancient and deceased masters, selected from the best col-
lections," and an exhibition of water colours was held on
the 31st October, 1831.
Under date September 3, 1832, we find the following in
Sykes's Local Records: — "The Northern Academy of
Arts in Blackett Street, Newcastle, having been disposed
of in shares of twenty-five pounds each, and its title
changed, the following notice of its opening was given to
the public: — 'The Newcastle-upon-Tyne Institution for
the General Promotion of the Fine Arts.— The share-
holders and the public in general are respectfully in-
formed that the above institution for the exhibition of
pictures and sculpture, &c., will open for the first season
on Monday, the 3rd day of September. — By order of the
committee of management, KEENLTSIDE and WALTON,
secretaries. ' "
The next event of any importance in connection with
this building was the Polytechnic Exhibition, held on
April 6, 1840. We gather from Mr. Latimer's continua-
tion of Sykes's Local Records that the affair was intended
for the benefit of the Mechanics' Institutes of Newcastle
and Gateshead, and the North of England Fine Arts
Society. The exhibition, which was of the most extensive
character, was entered by the Academy of Arts, Blackett
Street, where a number of beautiful paintings were ex-
hibited. The Joiners' Hall, entered from the last-named
apartment, was fitted up for the exhibition of a large
microscope and other optical instruments. A temporary
gallery thrown across High Friar Street connected the
rooms in Blackett Street with others in Grainger Street
and Nelson Street. In the Victoria Room (now the
Northumberland Hall) the articles displayed were so
numerous and splendid as almost to defy description ;
but Mr. Orde's racing trophies, won by Beeswing, a mar-
vellous collection of English manufactures in porcelain,
bronze, steel, silver, and glass, a series of beautiful coats
of mail, and a great variety of ornithological specimens
by Mr. Hancock, may be particularly enumerated. A
short staircase led from the Victoria Room to the Music
Hall, which was almost entirely devoted to machinery
and manufactures, and to which the continual movement
of so many articles imparted great animation. This
brilliant exhibition was finally closed by a soiree on
Wednesday, September 2, when the receipts were found
to have reached £4,458 15s. Id., leaving a clear surplus,
for the benefit of the three institutions, of upwards of
£1,500.
On April 24, 1848, another Polytechnic Exhibition was
held in the building, when the arrangements were almost
precisely similar to those made for the previous exhibition
in 1840.
The Academy of Arts was afterwards let to an auc-
tioneer, the late Mr. Charles Brough, who found its large
space eminently suited to the display of his customers'
goods. It is now occupied by Messrs. Davison and Son,
auctioneers, having been acquired by purchase in 1874 by
the junior member of the firm, Mr. Joseph Davison, Jun.
aittr Cffntumttarwo.
THE MARGETTS MYSTERY.
Mr. Conrad Haverkam Greenhow, writing to Robin
Goodfellow, the conductor of the local gossip depart-
ment of the Newcastle Weekly Chronicle, has thrown some
fresh light on the mysterious disappearance at North
Shields which was described in the first volume of the
Monthly Chronicle, page 58. Mr. Greenhow says : —
The facts are these :— John Margetts was a paid
assistant of my father's. At five o'clock one morning
in February, 1826, he went out with some medicine to
deliver to a Mrs. Gaunt's in Tyne Street, and never
was heard of again. I happened to be at home at the
time, and in company with the Rev. Mr. Neal, of South.
Shields, tried to find a clue to the mystery. We found
that a Mr. Profit, a mason, who lived opposite the end
of Church Street, heard, early in the morning, a scuffle-
February 1
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
91
in Tyne Street, and someone cried, "What are you
doing with me ?" The parties passed along Tyne Street,
and the watchman at Chapman's Bank in Howard Street
saw two men leading another down Union Street. The
watchman thought the third man was drunk, and so
took no notice. We next found that Mrs. Cornforth,
of the Whitby Arms, in the Low Street, near the New
Quay, hearing a cry of murder between five and six
o'clock, looked out, and saw two men dragging another
along. Now, they never got on to the New Quay, as
a watchman at the Northumberland Arms saw nothing
of them: so we concluded that they had gone down
the lane leading to Brown's flour mill. We got a war-
rant to search, and, in a dilapidated attic, found a leather
neck collar, torn, evidently in a scuffle. A man known
by the name of Joney Aird, who had a stall on the
New Quay, kept his things there. Aird disappeared
soon after, and on the arrest of Burke and Hare at
Edinburgh for the murder of the Italian boy, my father
sent Mr. Park, who had a painter's shop near, and
knew Aird, down to Edinburgh, to see if Aird and
Hare were the same man. Mr. Park at once identified
Hare as Aird. And I have not the slightest doubt that
Aird (or Hare) had made away with Margetts, and sold
his body at Edinburgh to be dissected, as Burke, before
execution, confessed to having killed many for that
purpose.
The following letter in reply to Mr. Greenhow's state-
ment was subsequently addressed to Robin Goodfellow: —
Grosvenor Place, North Shields, Dec. 27, 1883.
Dear Robin, — Having read in your issue of last week
Mr. Greenhow's letter, in which he mentions Mr. Park,
painter, going down to Edinburgh to identify Hare or
Aird as being concerned in the disappearance of Mar-
getts, I beg to offer some corrections in the matter.
From correspondence belonging to my deceased father,
in reference to my grandfather's visit to Edinburgh,
I find that this Aird, who was a great bird fancier,
and had a stall in the old fish market, North Shields,
disappeared about the same time as Margetts. My
grandfather, who took a great interest in birds, was on
very friendly terms with Aird, who often paid a visit
to his place of business in Olive Street. On the arrest
of Burke and Hare in Edinburgh, as mentioned in Mr.
Greenhow's letter, my grandfather did go to Edinburgh
to see if Hare was the said Aird, but did not identify
him, as he had been liberated two days before he arrived,
his delay being by the coach in which he travelled either
happening on accident or by storm. Burke was executed
the morning of my grandfather's arrival. As, however,
he had travelled so far, the warder in charge of the body
asked him if he would like a piece of the murderer. My
grandfather assenting, he cut off one of Burke's ears !
The memento is still in possession of the family. — I am,
&c., WILLIAM HABLE PARK.
THE INVENTOR OF THE STEAM PLOUGH.
The Rev. William Fisken, minister of the Presbyterian
Church of England at Stamfordham, Northumberland,
died in the early part of 1884-. Mr Fisken was a septua-
genarian, and had laboured for 37 years a few miles from
Wylam, on the banks of the Tyne, where George Stephen-
son was born. Mr. Fisken, who was a native of Perthshire,
alongside the study of theology, diligently pursued
mechanics. In this latter science his brothers, Thomas
and David, were equally proficient. Mr. Fisken will be
remembered by posterity, as he well deserves to be, and
especially by agriculturists, as having been one of the two
inventors of the steam plough, the other being his brother
Thomas, a schoolmaster at Stockton.
Several years ago an important trial came off at Westmin-
ster upon the merits of the invention. The parties were
the Messrs. Fiskeu and the Messrs. Fowler, the eminent
implement makers at Leeds, and the finding of the jury
was that the Presbyterian minister at Stamfordham and
the schoolmaster at Stockton-on-Tees were the original
discoverers. It is somewhat singular that the appliance
which perfects the plan of the brothers, who had been
working together at the steam plough, suggested itself to
each of them independently and simultaneously. The
late Mr. William Chartres, of Newcastle-on-Tyne, the
solicitor employed by the Fiskens, used to tell how the
two brothers wrote to him on the same day about the final
discovery, but that he received William's letter first.
Mr. Fisken also invented a potato sowing machine, an
apparatus for heating churches, and the "steam tackle"
which has helped to render the steam plough of so much
practical use.
The foregoing, from one of my note-books, may be
worthy of insertion in your pages. NIGEL, York,
A HIGHWAYMAN TRAGEDY.
The notice of Drummond, the Sunderland highwayman,
in the Monthly Chronicle (vol. ii., p. 317), reminds me
of the following incident : — My great-uncle, Joseph
Revell, Miulras Civil Service, was crossing Bagshut
Heath in a post-chaise, or carriage, with a friend, Mr.
Mellish, when they were stopped by two mounted men,
who deprived them of their purses and watches, and then
rode away. After passing, one of the highwaymen fired
his pistol into the back of the carriage. Mr. Revell aU-
dressed some observation to Mr. Mellish, but, receiving
no answer, looked at him, and found he was dead ! The
ball had passed through the woodwork of the chaise, and
entered the back of Mr. Mellish's neck.
BLACKETT KEVELL, London.
CHRISTENING THE CALVES AT COTHERSTONE.
Two tourists from Durham were lately approaching the
village of Cotherstone in Teesdale (which both knew very
well), when they met a native, out of whom one of them
decided to "take a rise." The following exchange took
place between them :— Tourist : "Hey, my man, what
village is that there ?" Native: "That be Cotherstone,
sor." Tourist: "Isn't that where they christen the calves?"
Native : "Aye, sor, but it's eftor fower o'clock on Friday
efternuin, an' they doant chrissen on Satorday nor Sun-
day ; thoo'll hae te wait till Monday morn for thy torn !"
A PITMAN'S DEEAM.
A pitman residing at Windy Nook takes pleasure in
repeating his dreams. One evening, some quarrymen,
desirous of having a joke with him, asked Geordy
to tell them a good one. After some little persuasion,
he complied as follows:— "Wey, lads, aa dreamt the
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
I February
\ 1889.
other neet aa wes deed, an' wes tyaken doon belaa — ye
knaa whor aa mean. When aa gets te the gates, the
little imp that ininds them says :— ' What's yor
trade ? ' 'A pitman, ' says aa. ' Whor de ye come frae?'
'Windy Nyuk,' aa tells him. 'Come in, lad,' he says,
'thoo's the forst pitman frae thor, but we're swarming
wi' quarrymen ! ' "
SEEING IS BELIEVIKO.
In one of our neighbouring villages lives a miner, who
is much addicted to strong liquor. His wife and children
often suffer great privations through his drunken and
impecunious habits, although he can generally manage to
bring some dainty morsel from the "toon" for his own
supper. One Saturday night he returned in a merry
mood with a pound of sausage, which he ordered his wife
to fry. As the cooking proceeded, Geordy slept ; and
the poor woman, to whom necessity knew no law, shared
the treat with her children, and liberally besmeared the
mouth of her sleeping spouse with the fat. Presently he
awoke, and demanded his sausage. "Wey, thoo's
eaten't," said his wife, and as a proof showed him his
greasy face in a looking-glass. "Beggor, aa must hev,"
said Geordy, "seein's believin ! "
EQUAL TO THE OCCASION.
The other day, a hawker, plying his vocation in
Gosforth, knocked at the door of a cottage ; the lady of
the house came, and, discerning that he was about to
offer some article of common use for sale, tartly re-
marked : " Aa nivvor buy owt at the door I'1 "Ah,
weel, " said the hawker, " then aa'll sell ye summat at the
winder ! "
THE ACTOR AND THE BUZZER.
Some time ago, a company of travelling actors were
playing Macbeth at a colliery village within the prover-
bial hundred miles from Newcastle. All went well until
the last scene, where Macbeth was being pursued by
Macduff. Macbeth enters breathless with excitement,
and in a tragic manner places his hand to his ear in a
listening attitude, exclaiming, " Hark ! what noise is that
I hear? Enemies are on my track!" Just then the
buzzer at the colliery was blowing, notifying that the
pit would be idle the next day. A pitman in the back
seats shouted out at the top of his voice: "It's the buz-
zor, ye beggor ! The pit's off the morn ! "
BROWN EOLL.
A house painter being asked by his employer if he had
ever worked in London, replied : " No, aa nivvor think o'
gannin' thor ; wey, ye cannot git broon rowl in London —
it's aall shag ! "
TWINS.
The other day a young man, who has a twin brother,
went with his mother into a certain butcher's shop in
Shieldfield. Seeing himself in a looking-glass, the young
man exclaimed : " Muthor, thor's wor Tommy in the
shop." The good lady looked for Tommy, but failed to
find him. At last the truth dawned upon her, and she
said to her son : " Wey, it's yorsel' ; ye divvent knaa
yor aan fyce from Tommy's ! "
fJjcrrtft-Cjiiwtrg
Mr. Matthew Young, a gentleman prominently con-
nected with several local bodies at Berwick, died in that
town on the 10th of December, 1888, at the age of about
66 years.
On the llth of December, Mr. Matthew Carter, for-
merly builder, farmer, and manager of Smith's Charity,
died at Hartlepool, at the advanced age of 76.
On the 13th of December, Mr. William Hedley, J.P.,
colliery owner, died at Burnhopeside Hall, Lanchester, in
the 81st year of his age. He was the last survivor of the
four sons of the late Mr. William Hedley, who it is claimed
was the inventor of the locomotive engine. The father
became connected with collieries in the county of Dur-
ham, and was assisted by some of his sons, who eventually
succeeded him. They were partners in the firm of
Thomas Hedley and Brothers, Quayside, Newcastle, and
owned South Moor, Craghead, and Holmside collieries.
The second son, Thomas, brought the name of the family
prominently before the public some years ago by his
munificent legacy towards the fund for the establishment
of the Bishopric of Newcastle, of which he was thus
practically the founder. Mr. William Hedley, like his
relatives, was also distinguished for many works of charity
and philanthropy. The deceased gentleman, among
several other local bequests, left £1,000 to the Newcastle
Royal Infirmary.
On the same day, the Rev. Dr. Maclennan, vicar of
Brampton-in-Cleveland, and formerly assistant chaplain
of St. Thomas's, Newcastle, died at the age of 60.
Colonel the Hon. Augustus Liddell, late Deputy-
Ranger of Windsor Forest, and uncle to the present Earl
of Ravensworth, died on the 14th December, at his resi-
dence at Eaton, aged 76 years.
Dr. Horan, a well-known medical practitioner at Sun-
derland, died there on the 18th of December, at the age
of 64 years.
On the 19th of December, Mr. George Young, senior
member of the firm of Messrs. Young and Sons, con-
tractors, Monkwearmouth. and a familiar figure in Sun-
derland, died at Bishopwearmouth. He was 69 years of
age.
On the 20th of December, it was announced that Mr.
John Sewell, a native of Bishop Auckland, and formerly
master of the Herrington Wesleyan School, Sunderland,
had been killed by coming in contact with a rock while
bathing at Gatton, Queensland, on the 28th of October.
He was only 30 years of age.
About the same date was reported the death of the
Rev. John Broadbent, a Wesleyan minister formerly
identified with Sunderland, but who had latterly been re-
moved to Richmond, in Yorkshire.
Mr. Jonathan Priestman, J.P., a well-known coal-
owner, died at his residence at Derwent Lodge, Shotley
Bridge, on the 21st of December. He was the youngest
son of the late Jonathan Priestman, of Benwell House,
near Newcastle, and his father was a very influential
citizen of Newcastle, being engaged in the tannery busi-
February I
1889. r
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
ness, and specially in the production of morocco and other
fancy leathers — a calling which he followed with consider-
able success. This gentleman was the first president of
the Newcastle Temperance Society. The deceased filled
the position of manager of the Consett Iron Works with
much ability for some time, being succeeded by Mr.
Jenkins, the present manager. Mr. Priestman after-
wards devoted more attention to the coal trade, and he
had been for a number of years prominently connected
with the commercial life of Newcastle. He was managing
owner of Ashington Colliery, Northumberland, and
through his instrumentality many improvements were
effected at that place. He was also head of the firm
which owned the Victoria Garestield, near Winlaton.
Mr. Priestman was a member of the Society of Friends,
and was brother-in-law to Mr. John Bright, M.P., his
eldest sister having been married to that distinguished
statesman ; but she died in 1841, and Mr. Bright married
a second time in 1847. The deceased gentleman took an
active part in the promotion and management of the
Newcastle Royal Jubilee Exhibition, and he was a mem-
ber of the Finance Committee of the local Coal Trade
Association. Mr. Priestman was chairman of the Lan-
chester and Consett bench of magistrates, and was 63
years of age.
On the 31st of December, Mr. Michael Spencer, a mem-
ber of the firm of John Spencer and Sons, Newburn
Steel Works, died at his residence, Walbottle Hall, near
Newcastle.
The Rev, Mother Mary Aloysius O'Connell died, in her
73rd year, in the St. Bede's Convent of Mercy, Simder-
land, on the 31st of December. The deceased lady was a
cousin of the great Daniel O'Connell.
Mrs. Lough, widow of John Graham Lough, the
eminent sculptor, died at her residence, 42, Harewood
Square, London, on the 29th of December. She was
upwards of seventy years of age, and had survived her
distinguished husband eighteen years. She was a daugh-
ter of the Rev. Henry North, domestic chaplain to the
Duke of Kent, father of Queen Victoria, and she was
married to Mr. Lough in 1832. The deceased lady, in
compliance with the oft-expressed wish of her husband in
his lifetime, presented the original models of his principal
works to Newcastle, and they were afterwards placed in
Elswick Hall, the collection having been inaugurated by
Mr. Joseph Cowen, then senior member for the borough,
on the 24th of October, 1877. Mr. Lough was a native of
Greenhead, near Minsteracres, Northumberland, where
he was brought up as a working mason.
On the 3rd of January, 1889, the Rev. Thomas Russell,
one of the co-workers with Hugh and James Bourne in
founding the Primitive Methodist Connexion, died at
Dover, in the 83rd year of his age. The rev. gentleman
travelled in the Stockton circuit during the last severe
visitation of cholera, and in 1853 he was stationed at
Darlington.
Mrs. Clark, wife of Mr. Edward Clark, solicitor, died
suddenly at Portland House, Benton, on the 5th of
January. The deceased lady was a daughter of Mr.
George Stanley, formerly lessee of the Tyne Theatre, and
during the brief period she spent as an actress she gave
proof of considerable talent.
Mr, Robert Newlands, a gentleman largely interested
in business matters in Jarrow and South Shields, and
father of Messrs. Newlands, solicitors, died in the former
town on the 8th of January.
Mr. Leopold Charles Martin, the only surviving son
of John Martin, the famous painter, who was a native of
Haydon Bridge, Northumberland, died in London on the
8th of January. His life had been spent, for the most
part, in the public service. Through the interest,
it is stated, of Sir Robert Peel — a warm admirer of
the artist — Mr. Leopold Martin obtained a post in a
Government office, and was thus furnished with a
career congenial and suitable to him, though he still kept
up his relations with the world of art, science, and litera-
ture. Mr. Martin married a sister of Mr. John Tenriel,
the inimitable Punch, "cartoonist," and some of his
leisure Vas devoted to literary labours. " Illustrations of
British Costume from William I. to George III.," " Gold
and Silver Coins of all Nations," and "The Literature of
the Civil Service," are among the works published by him
at various times. There had just been commenced in the
Newcastle Weekly Chronicle, {rom the pen of the deceased
gentleman, the publication of a series of personal remin-
iscences of his distinguished father. The articles having
been completed before the author's death, their publica-
tion was continued from week to week. For accounts of
the different members of the Martin family — John,
William, and Jonathan — see vol. i., pp. 343, 418, 434 ;
vol. ii., p. 43.
A Cambridge University correspondent, on the 10th of
January, recorded the death of Mr. Ernest Temperley,
bursar and assistant-tutor of Queen's College, who was
born in 1849, and was educated at Newcastle Grammar
School.
On the 13th of January, Mr. John Charlton, licensed
victualler, Drury Lane, Newcastle, died at his residence,
in Northumberland Street, in the 71st year of his age. He
had carried on business in the town for the long period of
about forty years, and was much respected by the very
large number of people who knew him. The deceased
gentleman was a brother of Mr. James Charlton, of
Chicago, a well-known authority in the railway world of
America.
at
Occurrences.
DECEMBER, 1888.
10.— The Senate of Durham University decided to
admit evening students of the College of Science in New-
castle to the titles and degrees of the university.
At the Durham Convocation, Mr. Edwin Codling,
the first artizan who had obtained that distinction, re-
ceived the degree of Bachelor of Science in the University
of Durham.
Mr. G. T. France was elected chairman, and the
Rev. A. F. Riley vice-chairman, of the Gateshead School
Board.
—The committee of the Bedlington Mechanics' Insti-
tute celebrated the 38th anniversary, by planting a num-
ber of trees in the ground in front of the large building in
Front Street.
11. — The first marriage waa solemnized in St. George's
Church, Newcastle, the bride being Miss Elizabeth Ada
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
I February
I 18S).
Swan, daughter of the late Mr. William Swan, of Walker,
and the bridegroom Dr. Arthur Brumell, of Morpeth.
—Mr. Thomas Cooke, of the firm of Messrs. Hedley,
Turnbull, and Cooke, was elected representative of St.
John's Ward in the Newcastle City Council, in the room
of Mr. J. G. Youll, recently elevated to the position
of alderman.
12.— Mr. Richard Fynes, of the Theatre Royal, Blyth,
was presented with an iDuminated address and an album
by his friends of Newsham and New Delaval.
13. — The Rev. Robert Brown, of Erskine Presbyterian
Church, and for upwards of thirty years a minister in
Newcastle, announced his acceptance of a call to Bramp-
ton, in the Presbytery of Carlisle. Previous to his
departure, the rev. gentleman was presented with an
illuminated address, two oil paintings, and a purse of
gold by members of his old congregation and friends. He
was inducted into his new charge on the 1st of January
1889.
—The Rev. A. L. Laird, M.A., was inducted to the
pastorate of Arthur's Hill Presbyterian Church, New-
castle.
—A destructive fire occurred at Messrs. Graham and
Co.'s saw mill and timber yard, at the west side of Tyne
Dock, South Shields, the damage being estimated at
several thousand pounds.
14.— A scheme of amended and extended representation
was adopted by the Newcastle Board of Guardians.
—Mr. Joseph Dodds, accepting the Chiltern Hundreds,
retired from the representation of Stockton-on-Tees, for
which he was the first member, and for which he had sat
in the House of Commons since 1868. There came for-
ward as candidates Sir Horace Davey, Q.C. (Liberal),
and Mr. Thomas Wrightson (Conservative). The election
took place on the 21st, the result being— Davey, 3,889;
Wrightson, 3,494. Sir Horace Davey was consequently
returned.
16. — A woman, named Jane Rigg, died in Victor
Street, Monkwearmouth, from the effects of injuries
alleged to have been inflicted by her husband, William
Uigg, on the 9th.
—The chancel of St. Nicholas' Cathedral, Newcastle,
was re-opened by the Bishop of Derry.
17.— The new Theatre Royal, Blyth, erected for Mr.
Richard Fynes, was opened in the presence of a large
nudience.
—It was announced that, during some ploughing opera-
tions, a circular-built grave, supposed to be of Roman
origin, had been unearthed on the farm of Unthank, near
Berwick.
18.— William Waddle, who murdered Jane Beadmore.
at Birtley Fell on the 22nd of September, 1888, was
•executed in Durham Gaol, Berry being the executioner.
(See vol. ii., pages 526, 573.) The convict had, a day or
two previously, confessed his guilt of the crime to Dr. •
Lake, Dean of Durham.
19. — The Tees shipbuilders gave notice for an advance
of 12i per cent, in their wages.
— A new Surgical Home, in connection with the Throat
and Ear Hospital, was opened at the corner of Brighton
Grove and Stanhope Street, Newcastle.
—The inaugural address was delivered by Mr. George
E. Shotton, president, to the members of the National
Association of Draughtsmen in Newcastle.
20.— It was announced that the Rev. S. E. Pennefather,
vicar of St. George's Church, Newcastle, and the Rev.
Christopher Bird, vicar of Chollerton, had been installed
as honorary canons of the diocese of Newcastle.
21.— A home for waifs and stray children was opened
at Gosforth by Mr. W. D. Stephens, J.P.
22.— John Boulton, a man well known in aquatic circles,
and 36 years of age, committed suicide by hanging him-
self, at Gateshead.
—The Christmas pantomime of "Sindbad the Sailor,"
the libretto being by Mr. W. Morgan and Mrs. Howard,
was produced for the first time at the Theatre Royal,
Newcastle. The subject of the pantomime at the Tyne
Theatre, in the same city, was "Puss in Boots," which
was presented for the first occasion on the 26th.
24.— A theatrical license for twelve months was granted
to St. George's Hall, Newcastle.
26.— Twenty-two men, forming part of the crew of the
screw-steamer Storm Queen, of Newcastle, which had
been wrecked in the Bay of Biscay, on the 22nd, were
landed at Dover by the Norwegian barque Gulnare, by
which they had been rescued. The captain (Mr. Jaques)
and other five hands were drowned.
28.— Sir Edward Grey, M.P., presided at the annual
dinner of the North of England Commercial Travellers'
Association, held in the Assembly Rooms, Newcastle.
—Mrs. Lowrey, residing at 12, City Road, Newcastle,
gave birth to three children— two males and one female.
This was the second case of triplets which had occurred in
the same city within a few weeks.
31. — A boy named James Moore, aared 15, was fatally
stabbed in Railway Street, Sunderland; and John
Me. Donald, another lad, 14 years of age, who was sus-
pected of having inflicted the injuries, was arrested on the
charge. The coroner's jury returned a verdict of wilful
murder against him.
JANUARY, 1889.
1. — New Year's Day was ushered in by the customary
interchange of good wishes and other observances ; but in
Newcastle remarkable quietness prevailed, and during
the night only six persons had been taken into custody.
—Park Terrace Presbyterian Church, Windmill Hills,
Gateshead, of which the Rev. J. Anderson Watt is
minister, was opened by the Rev. J. B. Meharry, B.A.,
of London.
—Notice was issued by the Iron Shipbuilders' Society
to the Employers' Association on the Tyne and Wear,
asking that, at the expiration of January, an advance of
12^ per cent, in wages should be granted. A similar
notice had been served on the masters in the Tees district,
which includes the Hartlepools. On the 8th, the em-
ployers, in the latter case, decided to close the yards after
the 16th, such men as might be retained being engaged
from day to day. The men of the Tyne and Wear
eventually agreed to accept the offer made by the masters
of an advance of 5 per cent, on piece prices and Is. per
week on time wages, dating from the first week of Feb-
ruary, and another like advance dating from the first
pay in July.
2.— An inquiry on behalf of the Local Government
Board was held at South Shields by Mr. Thomas
Codrington, in reference to an application by the Cor-
poration to borrow £3,375 for public improvements and
other purposes.
February |
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
95
— A fog of great density prevailed on the Tyne and
along the Northumberland and Durham coasts, consider-
ably impeding the navigation and traffic.
3. — Mainly through the instrumentality of Mr. Thomas
Stamp Alder, about 3,000 poor children were fed in New-
castle.
—Nominations were officially received for the New-
castle School Board, the triennial term of which was
about to expire. Forty-one gentlemen, in all, including
the fifteen retiring members, were nominated. As no
important question affecting the past policy of the Board
was involved, an effort was made to avoid a contest by a
friendly arrangement. With this view, a meeting was
held in the Council Chamber on the 5th, under the pre-
sidency of the Mayor (Mr. Thomas Richardson), and
another, by adjournment, on the 6th ; but on neither
occasion was a compromise arrived at. With the
exceptions of Messrs. William Hill, John Laidler,
and Alexander Stewart, working men, the whole of
the persons nominated, apart from the retiring mem-
bers, eventually withdrew. The three persons above
named, however, refused to retire, so that an election was
rendered inevitable. The election took place on the Hth,
and the result was declared next day as follows :—
John Robert Wood (Catholic ) 15, 740
Thomas Keenan (Catholic) 14,743
Alexander Stewart (Workman) 13,784
John Laidler (Workman) 13,683
William Hill (Workman) 13,604
J. H. Rutherford (Unsectarian) 11,496
A. T. Lloyd (Churchman) 10.654
G. Luekley (Unsectarian) 9,045
R. S. Watson (Unsectarian) 8,478
J. C. Laird (Unsectarian) 8,462
W. R. Plummer (Churchman) 8,413
S. E. Pennefather (Churchman ) 8, 368
R. G. Hoare (Churchman) 7,883
W. H. Stephenson (Unsectarian) 7,867
John Thompson (Unsectarian) 7,828
Benjamin Barkus (Churchman) 7,569
George Bell. Jun. (Unsectarian) 7,104
J. Shepherdson (Unsectarian) 6,570
The first fifteen on the list were declared to have been
elected.
— A handsome organ erected in Jesmond Baptist
Church, Newcastle, and presented by Mrs. Potts, was
opened by a concert of sacred music.
4.— A deputation, headed by Lord Armstrong, and
representing the local committees appointed to consider
the proposals of the Admiralty and the War Office for the
defence of the Clyde, the Forth, the Mersey, the Tyne,
and the Tees, had an interview with the Marquis of
Salisbury, at the Foreign Office, to urge upon him that
the protection of British ports and commerce connected
with them was a national duty, and not a work which
localities could or ought to undertake.
5.— From the final official list of the Hospital Sunday
.and Saturday collections made in Newcastle in October
last, it appeared that the total sum realised was £3,614
3s. Id. ; places of worship contributing £1,810 Is. 2d., and
manufactories £1,804 Is. lid. In the previous year the
relative amounts were — from churches and chapels £1,971
Os. 5d., and from works £1,545 15s. 2d., making together
£3,516 15s. 7d.
— The quarterly certificates of the accountants in the
Cleveland iron trade showed the price to be 33s. 3-58d.
per ton, making the tonnage rate of 9'41d., or an advance
of '13d. per ton.
— The result of the election for Tynemouth School
Board was made known, the eleven members returned
being— the Rev. Father Stark, Mr. L. M. Johnson, Mr.
Ellis, the Rev. T. Brutton, Mr. Isaac Black, Mr. R. D.
Scott, the Rev. David Tasker, Mr. Joseph Garrick, the
Rev. Mr. Horton, Mr. Grant, and Dr. J. M. Robson.
— An offhand match was rowed on the Tyne, from
the High Level to the Redheugh Bridge, between George
Bubear, of Putney, the English professional champion,
and George Norvell, of Swalwell. The stakes were £20
a-side, and the Swalwell oarsman eventually won by a
length and a half.
7.— The new Hall and Sunday School for St. Philip's
Parish was opened in Longley Street, Newcastle.
—The Rev. Dr. Joseph Parker, of the City Temple,
London, preached in the Town Hall, Hexham, that town
having been the place of his birth. On the following
evening, he lectured at Sunderland on '• Clocks and
Watches."
— An international draughts match — James Smith, of
Spennymoor, against Charles F. Barker, of America —
was brought to a close at Spennymoor, in the county of
Durham, and ended in a decisive win for Barker, who
scored five games against one by his opponent, with 23
draws.
8. — Mr. Gainsford Bruce, Q.C., M.P., was entertained
to a banquet, given by the Newcastle Conservative Asso-
ciation and the local Conservatives, in the County Hotel,
Newcastle, in honour of his return to Parliament for the
Holborn Division of Finsbury. The chair on the occasion
\vas occupied by Sir M. W. Ridley, M. P.
— Strangers were brought to fill the places of sailors
and firemen who had struck work at Seaham Harbour,
the point in dispute being the mode of shipping and
unshipping crews. The strike was settled on the llth,
and the men resumed work next day.
9. — The election of members of the Sunderland Schoo
Board took place, with the result that the state of the
parties remained unchanged, the fifteen seats being filled
by eight Unsectanans, six Churchmen, and one Roman
Catholic.
—Mr. T. Milvain, M.P., formally opened the new pre-
mises of the East End Working Men's Conservative
Association, in High Street, Sunderland.
— Clarghyll Hall, situated about two miles from Alston,
was partly destroyed by fire, and the Rev. Octavius
James, the occupant of the house, perished in the flames.
The reverend gentleman was 71 years of age, held the
living of Kirkhaugh, and had been a justice of the peace
for the county for about 40 years.
10. — It was announced that the will of Mr. William
Isaac Cookson, of Worsop Manor, Notts, and Newcastle-
on-Tyne, had been proved, the value of the personal
estate being sworn to exceed £585,000.
—The wife of Mr. R. B. Crow, butcher, Hylton Road,
Sunderland, gave birth to three children, all girls. On
the 12th of the same month, the wife of Mr. Finlay, 3,
Hammond Street, Newcastle, was delivered of three
children at a birth.
—Mr. Brewis Elsdon, of the firm of Elsdon and Drans-
field, solicitors, Newcastle, acting on instructions received
from the Secretary of State, proceeded to AInwick, and
made application before the Rev. Canon Trotter for four
summonses against four persons for conspiracy in the
famous Edlingham burglary case, when Brannagan and
Murphy, who have since been released, were sentenced
96
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
j February
\ 1889.
to penal servitude for life at the Northumberland Assizes
in 1879.
12. — Messrs. Bell Brothers, Limited, ironmasters and
salt manufacturers, Fort Clarence, Middlesbrough, issued
a circular, announcing that they had disposed of their
salt property to the Salt Union, Limited.
13. — Mr. T. Humphry Ward, husband of the author of
"Robert Elsmere," and himself attached to the literary
staff of the Times, delivered a lecture this evening, in the
Tyne Theatre, on "Matthew Arnold."
14. — It was announced that the Rev. Theodore Charles
Chapman, M.A., of St. John's, Lowestoft, had accepted
the living of Jesmond Church, in Newcastle.
©etteral ©ccnrrcntt?.
DECEMBER,
14. — An election took place at Maidstone in consequence
of the death of Major Ross. The result was as follows : —
Fiennes Stanley Wycham Cornwallis (Conservative),
2,050 ; John Barker (Gladstonian), 1,865 ; majority, 185.
16. — Death of Prince Alexander of Hesse, aged 64, at
Darmstadt.
18. — Much anxiety was felt about this time on account
of the reported capture of Mr. H. M. Stanley and Emin
Pasha by the Madhi ; but subsequent information was to
the effect that two other whites had fallen into the
Madhi's hands, and this led to the error.
— The result of an election at Colchester of a member of
Parliament, in the room of Mr. H. J. Trotter, deceased,
was declared as follows : — Lord Brooke (Conservative),
2,126; Sir William Brampton Gurdon (Gladstonian),
1,687 ; majority, 439.
20. — A force of 4,000 men, composed of British and
Egyptian soldiers, attacked a body of Arabs who had for
some time been threatening Suakim, on the Red Sea.
The Arabs were driven from their trenches with a loss of
about 400 killed and wounded. The British loss was very
slight.
21.— In consequence of the violent and abusive language
used by Dr. Tanner, M.P., during the sitting of the
House of Commons on the Appropriation Bill, he was
suspended from the service of the House.
— The body of a woman was found in Poplar, Lon-
don, under circumstances which led to the belief that she
had been strangled, She was afterwards identified as
Lizzie Davis, an unfortunate. No clue was obtained to
the person or persons supposed to have committed the
crime.
— Death of Mr. Laurence Oliphant, aged 60, well
known as a diplomatist and author.
24. — The House of Lords and House of Commons were
this day prorogued.
—Death of the Rev. Charles Cuthbert Southey, vicar
of Askham, near Penrith, son of the poet Southey, aged
70 years; also of Mr. Philip Henry Muntz, formerly
M.P. for Birmingham, aged 78 years.
26. — Death of General Louis Melikoff, a famous Russian
soldier, aged 65 years.
27. — A Native Indian Congress was held at Allahabad.
28.— Death of Elizabeth Pritchard, Newport, aged 104
years ; also of Lord Eversley, who was Speaker of the
House of Commons from 1839 to 1857, aged 93 years.
— Execution of a desperate character, Prado, in Paris,
for the murder of a woman named Marie Aguetant.
31. — A boy named John Gill, eight years of age, was
found dead within a stone's throw of his parents' house
in Bradford. The body was horribly mutilated. No
clue could be found to the mystery. A milkman was
arrested and charged with the murder, but was subse-
quently liberated.
— An extraordinary hoax was perpetrated in Mexico.
A report was sent to all quarters of the globe giving par-
ticulars of a rising in Mexico, in which seventy -two priests
were killed by the Government forces, and two hundred
others ordered to be executed. This was afterwards
proved to be a stupid joke.
JANUARY, 1889.
6.— A young man named Jenkins, an artist, enticed his
sweetheart, Emily Joy, into his studio, at Godalming,
Surrey, where he violated and murdered her. Jenkins
afterwards gave himself up, and confessed the crime.
7.— A British force routed a force of Red Karens in
Burmah.
—Terrible storms occurred in the United States, many
persons being killed and injured.
12. — The British steamer Priam was wrecked off the
Lisargas Isles, Spain, when over one hundred persons
were drowned.
14.— William II. opened the Prussian Diet. There
was, he said, a great improvement in the economic situa-
tion, in industry, and in the position of the working
classes.
Printed by WALTER SCOTT, Fellmg-on-Tyne.
Gbronicle
OF
NORTH<:OUNTRY*LORE*AND*LEGEND
VOL. III.— No. 25.
MARCH. 1889.
PRICE GD.
tfictarta
J1TANDING on the terrace in front of the
Winter Garden, Sunderland, the spectator
will note that one of the most striking build-
ings in sight is the Victoria Hall. It was
here that the sad and never-to-be-forgotten calamity
occurred on the 16th of June, 1883, when no fewer than
183 unfortunate children lost their lives.
A public performer named Fay had issued notices in
the early part of the week to the effect that he would
give a grand juvenile entertainment at the hall on the
Saturday afternoon ; and, as a means of securing a good
attendance, he circulated tickets admitting children at
the reduced price of one penny each to the gallery. He
likewise announced that prizes, in the shape of books,
playthings, etc., would be distributed at the close
of the performance. The entertainment commenced
at three o'clock, when there were about eight hun-
dred children in the body of the hall, eleven hundred
in the gallery, and a few in the dress circle, which was
otherwise empty. There were scarcely any adults
Victoria "Nail. Sunderland.
from He Park.
98
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/March
1889.
present besides Mr. Fay and his assistants, only a few
nursemaids accompanying such of the children as had
Kcfa-ia Hall.
I a ura STreeJ Kent
paid the full price of admission and got accommodated
in the better parts of the house.
All went on well until the close of the proceedings,
when the entertainers began to distribute prizes to the
children downstairs. But as soon as those who were
crowded together in the gallery, without any grown-up
person to keep them in order, saw that the presents were
being scattered about down below, they naturally became
excited, and began to fear that none would be left for
them. In an instant a number of the children rose to
their feet, and made their way to the folding doors lead-
ing to the staircase, their intention being to run down
into the body of the hall and share in the distribution of
the toys.
About three parts of the way down the winding
staircase was a door which opened inwards. This door
had for some unexplained reason, or perhaps quite acci-
dentally, been fastened partly open by a bolt in the floor,
leaving for egress a width of about two feet only — barely
sufficient for one person to pass at a time. The foremost
of the eager youngsters dashed impetuously through the-
folding doors, and swept in a living torrent down the first
twoflightsof stairs. So long as the way waslighted and clear
they passed on safely enough, until, streaming down from,
landing to landing, and passing the doors and windows of
the dress circle into the corridor, they approached the-
doorway above mentioned. The winding stair prevented
those who were rushing down, with all the eagerness of
children in a hurry to participate in the fun, from seeing
what was actually happening in their immediate front.
Those who were in advance were pushed forwards to the-
.1 li..d4Mlfillll Mil HlllliriH»*HtriJllllllllil.l44J mill
\Y> I -^w^
_2=S H-aSi H ilKl H — fj-f "ft.'?
'==• y/rterior ofKctiriitlsIl
SunJfrhnd.
March I
1889. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
99
door by the crowd behind them, without the possibility of
resisting the pressure. The narrow exit between the half-
open door and the door-frame was speedily choked up,
one spectator averring that he saw nearly twenty of the
poor little creatures one above another struggling to get
out ; and as the rush was still coming incessantly down
like an avalanche from a mountain side, the children in
front had not the least chance of escape. Some fell
against the door ; others were forced upon them by the
pressure behind ; and the lower part of the staircase was
filled in an instant of time with a heap of helpless children
whom it was physically impossible to rescue or relieve.
Those who were still rushing down the stairs in tumul-
tuous haste, cheering as they came on, and struggling who
should be foremost, had na idea of what was going on
X / / V N-^=^ 1 1 N>^
wjTTn^^
Scene of tip Catastfnkt.
below. So, quicker than one can tell, a dense pile of
bodies was crushed in the fatal trap, between the door
and the wall, such being the amount of pressure to
which the frames of the hapless little ones were subjected
that the strong wrought-iron bolt, whose presence did the
mischief, was bent by the force of the compact of the
shrieking and struggling mass of humanity, literally
heaped up in tiers.
It was evident that before the life was crushed out of
them they struggled desperately; for when the death-bolt
was at length raised, after the bodies of the dead and the
dying had been extricated, and the living had been hurried
away from the appalling scene, the landing and the flight
of stairs leading down to it were seen to be covered with
pitiful evidences of the tragedy. Little caps and bonnets,
torn and trampled, were lying all over the place ; buttons
and fragments of clothing littered the floor ; here lay the
fragment of blue ribbon which had tied up some little girl's
hair; there lay a child's garter ; on another spot the sole
of a little boy's boot torn from the "uppers," furnishing
mute but significant evidence of the violence of the death-
struggle.
The caretaker of the hall, Mr. Frederick Graham, was
the first who became aware that something dreadful had
happened. When he got to the lobby, at the foot of the
gallery stairs, he found a number of children lying there.
After he had got them cleared out with no small diffi-
culty, he proceeded from the outside towards the fatal
door, being attracted thither by the groans and cries of
such of the sufferers as were still alive. Mr. Graham
at once perceived that the bolt had caught in such a way
that the door could neither be opened nor shut entirely,
and through the aperture, about two feet wide, thus
formed, he caught sight of a writhing
mass of human forms. He made one
frenzied but futile effort to force back
the door, and then rushed upstairs
by another way into the dress circle,
from which position by strenuous
efforts he succeeded in stopping the
further flow of children to the stair-
case. He then hurried back to the
door, when he saw at once that the
only means of rescue was to pull the
bodies one by one through the aperture.
With the assistance of a gentleman
named Raine, a railway clerk named
Thompson, and a police -cons table
named Bewick, he commenced the
ghastly task. Further help fortunately
soon arrived in the person of Dr.
Waterston and others. As soon as a
body was pulled out, it was rapidly
examined, and, if dead, laid out in the
area or dress circle ; while if the little
sufferer still lived (and the signs of
100
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/March
\ 1889.
vitality were of ten very difficult to detect), the child was
at once conveyed to the Palatine Hotel, the Infirmary,
or some other house in the neighbourhood, where Drs.
Beattie, Dixon, Murphy, Welford, Lambert, Harris,
and other medical men, who were promptly on the spot,
devoted themselves ungrudgingly to the work of mercy.
The conduct of the cabmen of the town was also beyond
all praise. They flocked to the hall with their vehicles,
and rendered valuable help in conveying the injured to
che Infirmary and elsewhere.
Meanwhile, the dreadful news had spread like wild-
fire through the town, and the hall was soon besieged by
thousands. The excitement was indescribable — mothers
screaming for their children, and fathers fiercely striving
to force their way into the building. It was, however,
deemed prudent not to admit anyone until the work of
rescue had been completed ; but the gentlemen, all of
them full of sympathy and compassion, who volunteered
to assist in the necessary but thankless work of keeping
back the excited crowds, found it a most difficult task.
When, at length, those claiming to be the parents of
missing children were admitted in batches to the area and
dress circle, the scene inside baffled all description. The
children were laid out in rows, terrible to behold, many
with blackened faces, swollen cheeks, and parched
lipe. As parents identified their children, their shrieks
were most distressing. In some cases they fell upon
their dead children, clasped them in their arms, and
cried aloud over their dear ones. In many instances
the mothers swooned away, and had to be carried to one
side, where others, whose children had escaped, sought to
restore and console them. One affecting case was that of
a poor woman whom Mr. Errington, a member of the
Town Council, was sympathetically assisting in her search.
As she accidentally touched a corpse with her dress, a
man said to her, perhaps somewhat roughly, "Don't
stand upon them," when she replied, "Good God ! I have
too many of my own to stand upon them." The unfor-
tunate woman, a few minutes afterwards, discovered
three of her own children amongst the dead ! Another
instance is related of a man who, with his wife, pushed
his way into the hall, and eagerly scanned the faces of the
dead. Without betraying any emotion, he said, with his
finger pointed and with face blanched, "That's one."
Passing on a few yards further between the rows of little
ones, he said, still pointing with his finger, "That's
another." Then, continuing his walk till he came to the
last child in the row, he exclaimed, as he recognised the
third little one, " My God ! all my family gone."
Among the many distressing features in connection
with the affair, that of mistaken identity was not the
least agonising. A number of children taken away in the
excitement of the moment were afterwards returned to
the hall, the poor people having been misled as to the
identity of the shapeless little masses of humanity. IP
March 1
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
101
one case, a parent took home a little boy by mistake,
and after arriving there found it was the body of a
neighbour's child. Meantime, his own boy had been
recovered alive, and was treated with all skill and
care possible, though the little fellow died subsequently
from his injuries.
The victims of the disaster comprised 69 girls and 114
boys. It was found by analysis that the greatest number
were between the ages of 7 and 8 years. The following
shows the numbers and ages : —
Ages. 11 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3
Victims... 1 1 613262337351914 5 2
In some families the whole of the children were swept
away, and there are known cases where the broken-
hearted parents have gone to their last home, never
having recovered from the shock.
The disaster was the subject of talk and comment in
every household in the land for more than the proverbial
nine days ; and for many and many a year to come it will
remain in the memories of fathers and mothers as the
most lamentable event in their lives. But it evoked, too,
a spontaneous and noble outburst of humane senti-
ment, as is always the case when the heart of
the community is touched. Money poured in from all
sides, and a sum was subscribed for which there was
no immediate direct need, as no bread-winners had been
lost. Out of the amount promised, nearly £5,000 was
received, and with this the expenses of most of the funerals
were paid ; but unfortunate dissensions hindered the re-
mainder from being put to use for building and endowing
a Convalescent Home for Children, as at first intended ;
and, with the exception of the sum paid for the statue in
commemoration of the event, which has now found a
resting-place in the People's Park, it still remains un-
appropriated.
The view of the exterior of Victoria Hall is taken from
a photograph by Mr. Paul Stabler, of Sunderland ; that
of the interior is from a sketch by our own artist. The
sketch of the staircase where the disaster occurred is from
a drawing by Mr. Robert Jobling. Our other sketches
show the Laura Street entrance to the hall, and the fatal
door with the bolt in the socket. We also give sketches
of the memorial group, and of the group in its glass case,
erected in Sunderland Park.
SLcrtterg
in
first public lottery in England occurred
in the year 1569, and the profits were
devoted to the useful purpose of making
harbours, repairs of public works, &c. It is generally
believed to have been the Genoese Government that con-
ceived the idea of using lotteries as a means of adding
to its revenue, and the example was soon followed by
other nations, England amongst the rest. Little more
than sixty years ago, the State lottery was one of the
regular institutions of this country, the profits yield-
ing the national exchequer more than a million a year.
Every newspaper, London and provincial, teemed with
advertisements appealing to the gambling instincts of
the people. The usual number of tickets in a lottery was
20,000, each of the value of £10. These tickets were first
thrown open to the competition of contractors, which
brought an advance of £5 or £6 each. After the contrac-
tors were supplied, they in turn offered them to the
public at a profit of £4 or £5, or fairly double the price of
the first issue. Of course the poorer class of the people —
always the vast majority — had no such sum as £20 to risk
in a game of chance; and, to accommodate this class, the
tickets were divided into halves, quarters, eighths, and
sixteenths, the usual price of a sixteenth being £1 lls. 6d.,
BO that the agent must have pocketed a big profit, as the
sixteenth of £10 is only 12s. 6d. Lotteries were finally
abolished in England by Act of Parliament in 1826.
We have recently met with a number of advertisements,
songs, fly sheets, fee., issued by the lottery agents in
Newcastle seventy or eighty years ago. E. Humble
& Son, Mosley Street, and Watson & Sons, Edinburgh
Tea Warehouse, Newcastle, appear to have done a great
business in lottery tickets, and their numerous and
tempting inducements to gamble, which they issued
profusely, are even now very amusing to read. Herp
u an enticing advertisement, printed in 1810 : —
All in one day — 8th June, 1810. Grand State Lottery—
4 of £20,000, 4 of £5,000, 12 of £1,000, 20 of £500, &c., &c.
Four Extra Prizes of 100 Tickets each, to be drawn next
Friday, 8th June, 1810. £200,000 in Prizes. Only 5,000
Numbers, a single Ticket may gain £100,000. Tickets
and Shares are Selling by Messrs. Watson & Sons, Edin-
burgh Tea Warehouse, Newcastle-on-Tyne. By the above
salutary measure, every doubt is removed respecting Lot-
teries being injurious to the morals of the people, and the
principle placed beyond the reach of censure.
We can scarcely understand where "the salutary mea-
sure" comes in, unless it be the one-day drawing, which
places everything " beyond the reach of censure."
Like Silas Wegg, the agent not seldom dropped into
poetry, and of this we give a specimen culled from a new
song to the tune of " Derry Down " : —
To those who want riches this song is address'd,
For of all plans to get them, sure this is the best,
To try in the Lott'ry, now pray do attend.
And 111 teach you the way how your fortunes to mend.
Derry down, down, &c.
The drawing begins twenty-eighth day of June,
Which you all must allow will be here very soon ;
Then purchase with speed, if you take my advice,
For tickets will certainly get up in price.
Derry down, down, &c.
Here is the last verse of another "New Lottery Song,'
to the tune of " Chapter of Kings ": —
On the eighth day of March Dame Fortune intends
To distribute a part of her gifts to her friends ;
Ye who wish to partake, don't a moment delay,
But to Humble's famed office pray hasten away.
Yet barring pother of this, that, or t'other,
You afl must get prizes in turn.
102
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
I March
We quote next from a tiny little bill (five inches by
three), the calm, convincing logic of which would satisfy
the most sceptical as to the great advantage of specu-
lating in a lottery ticket : —
One Fact is worth a hundred arguments, and one Lottery
Ticket may be worth a Thousand Prizes in the ensuing Lot-
tery, if purchased before the 12th of April next, for the
first drawn Prize above £15 must gain 1,000 whole tickets
whose worth is incalculable !
Exceedingly tempting, too, is another little hand-bill,
which runs to this effect :—
The dawn of old England's good fortune by sea, in
the American war, began 12th April, 1782, a day to be
held in grateful remembrance by every lover of this happy
country ; but with what gratitude will the fortunate pos-
sessor of the first-drawn prize above £15 be impressed, the
12th of April next, when 1,000 whole tickets are presented
to him, which may gain upwards of £100,000 !
Sometimes the hesitating speculator is stirred up by a
warning or threat like the following : —
In a few hours, the unsold Tickets or Shares now remain-
ing in this town must be returned to London ; and
amongst them, perhaps, several of the large Prizes.
If you wish to make your Fortune, you must be quick —
there is No Time to be Lost !
Emphasis is always given to the statement that "the
State Lottery is all drawn in one day," which seems
to have been considered a great advantage. "Therefore
(says one of Messrs. Humble's advertisements) Expedition
is necessary in your application at the truly Lucky Office
of Edward Humble £ Son, Mosley Street, Newcastle,
where the only Prize of 40,000 pounds ever known was
sold. Both the Five Thousands in the last Lottery were
sold at the above office, to which you must quickly repair
if you wish for a chance in the present Grand Scheme,
it being limited to one Day's Drawing. God Save
the King ! "
But all this is not enough, it would seem, to induce the
weak, the foolish, and the mercenary to embark in the
scheme ; so, like Mrs. Jarley, the agents seek the aid of
comic songs, interspersed here and there with " spoken "
between the lines. We will quote a small sample of one
of these effusions, "spoken " and all : —
There were Four and Twenty Lotteries all in a row.
There were Four and Twenty Lotteries all in a row.
Spoken — There was five thousand all in one day. Five
thousand what, sir ? Tickets, sir; to be sure ; not one blank
among them, and a Prize four times over, every time the
wheel turns round, to make the poor rich, and raise the
humble from the bottom to the top of the ladder of For
tune, where they may sit
And look so proud
Above the crowd
That's down below.
For it's a lucky lottery, and therefore well be merry.
Who could withstand all this wit and humour, these
coaxings and blandishments? E. Humble & Son tried
every means by which to tempt the cupidity of the public —
poetry and prose, pictures, epigrams, conundrums. Indeed,
the extent and variety of the printed matter which they
threw out at this time were amazing. Here's something
to make a speculator's mouth water : —
A person sprung up in this town who predicted that the
only Prize of Forty Thousand Pounds ever known was
then on Sale at E. Humble & Son's truly lucky office, in
Mosley Street. Wonderful to relate, this was the case !
The golden opportunity was embraced by a lady [a lady
worth embracing !] who is now enjoying the fruits of her
speculation. The same wiseacre who predicted that the
Forty Thousand would be sold by Humble £ Son, now
foretels that one, at least, of the Twenty Thousand in the
next Lottery will be added to the Lists of Capitals sold by
them.
Coloured pictures, and not badly done either, were also
pressed into the service of the lottery dealers. The
following, we suppose, was considered very funny by our
grandfathers seventy years ago: — Two swells of the period,
strolling along, wholly ignore a poor fellow out at elbows,
who is trying to attract their attention. "Come along,
Jack, "says one, "or we shall be bored to death. That
fellow has no gratitude. When he had money, I took in-
finite pains to teach him to spend it like a gentleman —
now it's gone, he is always teasing me with his
wants— it annoys me exceedingly." On the other side we
find that things have changed, a lucky lottery ticket
enabling Jack to give his quondam friend a Roland for his
Oliver. Jack, fashionably attired, is again met by Tom
and his friend, who courteously salutes him with "Jack,
my dear fellow, won't you stop and let me congratulate you
upon your good fortune ? I heard you had obtained a Prize
in the Lottery, and it gave me much pleasure." Jack
replies—" Did you speak to me ? I don't recollect — I'm
in haste, and to be bored thus annoys me exceedingly I "
W. W. W.
lilackett
anb Jlero
J»tttet.
J1LACKETT STREET, to which we now turn
our attention, is one of the modern thorough-
fares of Newcastle. It is associated in the
local mind with the earlier results of the
architectural genius of our great townsman, Richard
Grainger, who built thirty-one of its houses, and the fine
quadrangle of Eldon Square into the bargain. Of his
many undertakings, this of Blackett Street was one of the
first, though it ought to be added, on the authority of
Mackenzie, that the "commodious and elegant plan " of
the street was "furnished by Mr. Dobson, architect."
To both these men of mark, indeed, Newcastle is indebted
for much of its present architectural beauty.
The street was constructed in the year 1824. Prior to
that date the locality was an unwholesome one indeed.
Along its south side, now occupied by substantial houses,
ran the town wall, close beside which were pigstyes,
stables, sheds, and a few straggling houses. On the other
March 1
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
103
side were gardens, so called ; but such gardens ! It would
be more correct to call them a pestilent waste, devoted to
the reception of all kinds of garbage and rubbish. And
hereby hangs an amusing tale.
On one occasion, when the place was in this desolate
condition, some countrymen, engaged in carting manure
from it, made a terrible discovery. Amongst the rubbish
v,
V
RICHARDSON'S SHOP, CORNER OK ULACKETT STREET, 1839.
they found the body of a child. Information was con-
veyed to the coroner, and a jury was summoned forthwith.
Solemn "crowuer's quest" was held, in the course of
which one sapient juryman, after touching the corpse,
observed that it was very putrid — as well it might be,
considering the place it came from ! The coroner, how-
ever, chanced to be a surgeon. He examined the body,
and found it to be no other than a wooden doll ! But how
came it to found where it was ? Well, the explanation
was simple enough. This said doll was Alonzo's child,
carried by Rollo in Kotzebue's play of "Pizarro," at
that time a very popular piece ; and when Stephen
Kemble retired from the management of the theatre,
this "property," amongst other things, had been sent
from his house in Newgate Street and thrown into the
common receptacle. Thus was spoilt one sensational
mystery.
Such, then, was the condition of Blackett Street
"before it was made," to parody the humorous saying
concerning the Highland roads of old. But in 1824- the
town wall in the neighbourhood was removed, with its
J7 unsavoury surroundings, and the street formed. It ob-
. tained its name from Alderman John Krasmus Blackett,
-- father of Lady Collingwood, and was of course regarded
as a great improvement. The street runs from the head
of Pilgrim Street to the foot of Gallowgate ; let us stroll
along it in that direction.
But first let us note the shop at the corner on our left,
with some of its windows in Pilgrim Street and others in
Blackett Street, occupied of late years by an enterprising
city councillor — the first Scotchman, it is said, that has
held the office of Sheriff of Newcastle— Mr. William
Sutton. Half a century ago this was the printing and
publishing office of M. A. Richardson and his giftud son,
George Bouchier Richardson. From it issued in parts
and sections most of that rich collection of local history
and biography, tradition and legend, which bears the
name of "The Local Historian's Table Book." There,
also, Mr. Richardson sold State Lottery Tickets, an an-
nouncement of which was painted upon the board which,
in the annexed engraving, is seen running the length of
the premises. It was a notable place at that time ; it is
i busy corner still.
On the same side, about midway between Pilgrim
Street and the Monument, is the new building whicli
occupies the site of the old Mechanics' Institute, and
nearly opposite is the scene of that dreadful tragedy
El don. Syuare.
104
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
f March
which, on the 1st October, 1861, deprived Mark Frater of
his life, and robbed Newcastle of a useful citizen. There,
too, for many years, was the famous book shop of George
Rutland — a market for local literature the like of which
has never been adequately provided in Newcastle since
his retirement.
We pass the Monument and come to the building
known until recently as St. James's Chapel, but now in
the possession of the Young Men's Christian Association.
It was built in 1826, and had at one time a massive por-
tico of four columns, supporting a simple pediment, as is
dimly seen in the foregoing sketch. This was removed,
and a front more in the Grecian style was adopted. It
may be remembered that the St. James's people originally
worshipped in Silver Street as Scotch Presbyterians ;
when they came to the chapel now before us — which, by
the way, had Mr. John Dobson for its architect — they
adopted by degrees the Congregational form. They now
assemble in another and much larger church in Bath
Road, erected a few years ago.
On the opposite side of the way is the United Presby-
terian Church. A brick edifice was erected on the sitw
in 1821. But on the formation of Blackett Street, the
building was discovered to be not in line with it ; and the
Corporation offered the congregation £100, on condition
that they would build a new front, which was done. In
1858, however, the whole edifice was pullod down, and
the present oue, which is an ornament to the street, and
boasts of a lofty spire, was put up according to the plans
of Mr. Thompson. Nearly forty years ago, the then
minister (the Rev. D. C. Browning) and his congregation
pot to loggerheads, with the result that the former bade
good-bye not only to his people, but to this connection,
and took orders in the Church of England.
The Academy of Arts next engages our attention. But
a history of this building, accompanied by a couple of
sketches, was given in the Monthly Chronicle for Feb-
ruary. (See page 89. )
Crossing the street, we arrive at Eldon Square, the
domestic paradise of some of our eminent doctors.
Towering above the other houses in the quadrangle
(allowing Blackett Street itself to represent the fourth
side) is the centre one on the north side — the Northern
Counties Club. The middle of the square has now been
formed into a pleasant little pleasure ground. But why
Eldon Square ? The reason for the name is that it was
originally intended to erect a figure of Lord Eldon within
the enclosure. That has never been done ; nor does it
seem likely that the work will now be taken in hand.
Retracing our steps to the head of Pilgrim Street, we
see before us, stretching away to the east, the thorough-
fare of New Bridge Street. The street was constructed
in 1812, and was intended to answer the purpose of an
alternative road to Shields by way of the Red Barns and
Elwick's Lane. As we start on our saunter from Pilgrim
Street, we note, first of all, on our left Trinity Presby-
terian Church, a neat building in the Early English style
of architecture, erected from designs by Mr. Dobson.
Next to it is the Church of the Divine Unity, built in the
Decorated style of Gothic architecture, also from designs
by Mr. Dobson.
On the opposite side of the way is Erick Street, a short
cut to the gaol. The street obtains its name from the
circumstance that formerly a small stream, the Erick
Burn, ran down the bank here to Carliol Croft. Carliol
Street, which runs parallel with Erick Street on the
same side, is so named from the ancient family of the
Carlels or Carliols.
Opposite Carliol Street stands the Public Library.
The western part of the building (adjoining the Unitarian
Church), the foundation stone of which was laid by Sir
CARLIOL TOWER, NEWCASTLE, 1875.
George Grey in 1865, was the home of the Mechanics'
Institute, removed thither, the following year, from
Blackett Street, and now amalgamated with the Library.
Over this said Library there were many searchings of
heart a few years ago. There were earnest partizans on
both sides ; and keen was the controversy as to whether
Newcastle needed such an institution. There were also
difficulties as to a proper site. Several were suggested,
but in 1878 the present site was definitively fixed upon,
and Mr. Alfred M. Fowler, then the borough engineer,
was directed to prepare plans and proceed with the
building without further delay. But here came another
difficulty. To make way for the new structure it was or-
dained that an ancient relic of the old town, in good pre-
March 1
/
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
105
servation, too, should be levelled with the ground. This
was the Carliol Tower, which was finally pulled down in
1880. The building, which was also known as the
Weavers' Tower, stood at the north-east corner of the
town wall, which ran from it down Croft Street to the
Plummer Tower, still standing. Between Carliol Tower
and Pilgrim Street were, at one time, three smaller
turrets, one of which was called the Waits' Tower,
because it was formerly the meeting-place of a band of
musicians maintained by the town. But all this part of
the wall was pulled down in 1811. So far back as 1682,
Carliol Tower had been fitted up by the Weavers' Com-
pany as their meeting-place — hence the second name.
The old structure had been a silent witness of rough
work in its day. In 1824-, some workmen found on its
north side a cannon ball, weighing more than twenty-
three pounds. It had penetrated about two feet into the
wall, and was probably fired when the town was stormed
by the Scots in 1644.
Over the way again we pass by Croft Street, in which
stands the Plummer Tower already mentioned. Next,
and on the same side, we come to the Lying-in Hospital.
an excellent institution. It has been in existence since
1760, being at first located in Rosemary Lane, near St.
John's Church; and has been in its present premises since
1826. The inmates are required to show that they are
poor married women ; and the motto of the institution
explains their presence there. It is the short and expres-
sive one : — " Because there is no room for her in the inn."
The elevation, details, and specifications of the several
works of this hospital were all gratuitously supplied by
Mr. Dobson. The style of the building is that which
prevailed about the end of the reign of Henry VIII.
Its cost was about £1,500, and amongst the subscribers
were the Corporation, the Bishop Durham, the Trinity
House, and various congregations who responded to
pulpit appeals.
On the opposite side of the road is Higham Place, BO
named by its first proprietor, William Batson, from his
estate in Ponteland parish. Not far from Higham Place,
and on the same side of the way, stands the handsome
little residence of the late John Dobson, architect. It
was designed and erected by himself, and bears all the
marks of the dignified style he gave to so many of the
streets of Newcastle. For, be it understood, though the
credit of reconstructing Newcastle is too often given to
Grainger alone, it was Mr. Dobson who supplied the
architectural features and details. Mr. Grainger was
without doubt a great man in his day ; but he was
mainly a builder and speculator. It was Mr. Dobson
who was the architect and artist of the new town. Even
the Butcher and Vegetable Markets, described on page
82 of the present volume, were designed by Mr. Dobson,
who was employed by the Corporation as the architect of
the new buildings. The house in New Bridge Street is
still occupied by Mr. Dobson's daughter, Miss Margaret
Jane Dobson, who proved her devotion to her father's
memory by publishing, a few years ago, a valuable
memoir of the greatest architect the North of England
lias produced.
Of Oxford Street and Picton Place, a little further
along, there is nothing particular to be said, save that
St. Peter's Church stands at the head of the former.
This is a modern building, and was intended originally
PUBLIC LIBRARY, NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNE, 1885.
106
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
I March
1 1889.
as a chapel of ease to St. Andrew's. The Rev. C. A.
Raines still remains its first vicar.
Proceeding, we pass on our right a building originally
intended to serve as a Baptist chapel, which was erected
in 1839. The building has had very varying fortunes,
being at one time an auctioneer's mart, at another a shop
for the sale of busts and figures, and so forth. Opposite
are the offices of the Blyth and Tyne branch railway, at
one time a substantial private dwelling-house.
We now come to the " New Bridge " itself, from which
this street is named. It was erected in 1812, to span
what was then a wide, deep dene running from Pandon
to the Ban-as Bridge. At that time this dene was
emphatically a bonny place. As one stood on the new
bridge and looked northward, gardens lined the ravine.
Instead of the shriek of railway whistles, the sweet songs
of birds filled the air in the Rummer months with their
joyous melody from every twig and tree ; an old mill,
with its ancient water-wheel, lent picturesqueness to the
scene; the workman, freed fora while from his toil at
the bench or the forge, cultivated his little garden plot in
the pure fresh air ; lads and lasses strolled along in pairs,
according to the old, old fashion ; and, when tired, re-
freshed themselves in fruit and tea gardens. All is gone
now.
Crossing the bridge, we are at the corner of the Shield-
field, and accordingly at our journey's end, so far as the
street proper is concerned. And yet we are some distance
from the Red Barns and Ehvick's Lane. The explana-
tion is, that when New Bridge Street was constructed
there was open country between the Shieldfield and the
Red Barns. This has now all been built upon, and the
street continued right along to the Byker Bridge. Yet,
although running on in the same straight line, its name
has changed. As we pass the entrance to the Shieldfield,
we find ourselves in Ridley Villas ; yet for all practical
purposes the street is still one and the same. The villas,
semi-detached residences, are held by a lease of sixty-
three years, or three lives, of Sir M. W. Ridley, Bart,,
subject to an annual ground-rent of £5 each per annum.
On the opposite side of the road the houses, called Regent
Terrace, are leased in a similar manner. They are built
on land once the property of Lord Stowell. At the end
of Ridley Villas is the Dominican (Roman Catholic)
Church, a very fine and substantial building. Its founda-
tion stone was laid by the late Bishop Chadwick, the ser-
mon on the occasion being delivered by Father Rodolph
Suffield, whose subsequent secession to Unitarianism
created much distress of mind to his colleagues and co-
religionists. And so we are at this journey's end.
<£ avlj>
at Hm-tftuwtimff.
in.
THE DAWN OP A GBEAT KINGDOM.
j|OR some years after the dispersal of the
Britons at the Cattrail — the battle described
in our last article—the Angles of Bernicia
and Deira were at war amongst themselves.
The district between Tyne and Tees not unfrequently
changed hands during this period, and raids even to
the north and south of these rivers were by no means
rare. There was no decided victory so long as the hardy
Theodoric lived; but, on his death, in 587, the forces
of Ella secured a succession of triumphs, and the now
patriarchal king of Deira ruled for the first time over
"a united Jforthumbria." The distinction, however, was
of no great duration. Ella died in 589, and, as he left
only a young boy to succeed him, the Bernicians got
another chance. In those days, the first quality of a
king was his prowess in the field, and none but hardy
fighting men could reign. To no one was this fact
better known than to Kthelric, the last son of Ida.
Gathering his friends together, and boldly taking the
initiative, he soon regained possession of Bernicia.
Acting with great tact and judgment, he lost not a
moment in following up his advantage, and found him-
self, almost without a struggle, master of Deira also.
But Northumbria was not yet the powerful State it was
destined to become, though events were rapidly tending
in that direction. After a reign of only three or four
years, Ethelric, in 593, was succeeded by his son Ethel-
frith, and thenceforward there was a striking alteration
in the condition and prospects of the kingdom. The
new ruler — who was surnamed " the Fierce " — was a
brave, ambitious, and capable soldier. Withdrawing,
apparently, from the doubtful position he held in Deira,
he turned his energies to the north. Scot, Pict, and
Cumbrian had been showing signs of reviving activity,
and Ethelfrith assailed them with all the vigour of
his fiery nature He attacked in many quarters — some-
times in two or three simultaneously — and is reputed to
have been the greatest aggressor on the Oymri that is
known to history. The result of his early operations,
as recorded by Bede, was that he made part of them
tributary, seized further slices of their territory, and
almost exterminated many of the smaller tribes.
THE BATTLE OF DAEGSASTAN.
It was at this juncture, in 603, that Aidan, the first
consecrated King of Scotland, entered a very emphatic
protest against the plunder and destruction that was
going on. He had watched the harrying of his allies
with sorrow and misgiving, and resolved to make ft bold
stroke for their protection. Gathering up a numerous
and- powerful army, Aidan marched with all haste
Murch 1
1889. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
107
towards the Bernician frontier. Ethelfrith waR not
slow to accept the challenge ; and, after a rapid move-
ment across country, the two forces were brought face
to face at Daegsastan, on the Jed— a site that is now
generally fixed at Dawston. There are not many details
of the conflict; but, seeing the cause in which the
North Britons were fighting, one may readily imagine
the desperate resolution with which they went into
action. At the commencement of the onset, the Scots
and their friends carried all before them. A brother
of the Bernician king was borne down by the fury of
the attack, and with him perished a whole division of
the Angles. In the end, however, discipline demonstrated
its unfailing efficacy. Recovering their ground with
marvellous rapidity, Ethelfrith's soldiers swooped down
on the now scattered allies, and literally cut them to
pieces. Aidan, with a few devoted attendants, managed
to effect an escape ; but the bulk of the gallant tribes-
men, who had stepped out so gaily in the early morning,
remained in agony or death upon the beautiful slopes
of the lowland dale.
FLIGHT AND EXILE OF EDWIN.
After their successful exploit against Aidan, the Ber-
nicians — having allowed themselves a brief space for rest
and recruiting — took the war path once more. This
time, however, it was to renew and consolidate their
relationship with Deira. Ethelfrith had never intended
to sever his connection with that state permanently ;
and, as a consequence, no sooner was his own land safe
from the assaults of the North Britons, than he began
to devise schemes for re asserting his old sway beyond
the Tees. Ella's son— the world-famed Edwin — was still
too young to govern, and Ethelfrith recognised the
importance of making his own attack while the lad was
comparatively useless and unknown. His object was to
get possession of the young prince, if possible, and to
build up a strong Anglian kingdom over which he him-
self might be lord and master. Everything seemed
favourable for the full realisation of his hopes, when,
in 605, he headed his fine army in the direction of
York. Taken at a disadvantage, the men of Deira
could offer but small resistance, and Edwin and his
counsellors were compelled to seek safety by a hasty
flight. Having been so far successful, Ethelfrith
espoused the young prince's sister, and from that time —
with the gentle Acca as his consort— he directed the
destinies of all the land between the Humber and the
Forth.
THE FOUNDATION OF THE HEPTARCHY.
While a great power had thus been rising in the
North, many other parts of the British territory had
experienced similarly eventful changes. The Jutes had
fought their way to a kingdom in Kent; the Saxons
had formed two states to the south and one to the
north of the Thames ; while the Angles, in two powerful
confederacies, ruled the bulk of the Midlands. These
results were not accomplished without much bloodshed
and many fluctuations of fortune. But the half-civilized
natives, after years of valorous resistance, had either
been "massacred with savage ruthlessness, " enslaved
by their conquerors, or driven for refuge into the wilds of
Wales or Devon. The invaders, like their Northumbrian
brethren, were Pagan worshippers of Thor and Woden,
and they not only "stamped out Christianity with fire
and sword, "but overturned and destroyed every vestige
of the grandeur which Rome had created. Starting as
colonisers on the coast, they gradually became conquerers
and settlers in the central plateau, and finished by the
different communities warring amongst themselves.
First one state and then another was in the ascendant,
and its chief, or king, claimed supreme power over the
whole of his neighbours ; but whether the Bretwalda,
or Emperor — as this ambitious functionary was desig-
nated—had any real authority over the other rulers, is
a question open to very considerable doubt. It is quite
certain that all the monarchs of the Heptarchy engaged
in warlike enterprises whenever the spirit moved them ;
and it is equally clear that, for many generations after
the Anglo-Saxon domination, there was no single man
strong enough to over-lord the entire land.
OVERTHROW OF THE BKITONS AT CHESTER.
It was towards the close of this systematic apportion-
ment of the country that Ethelfrith made himself master
of Bernicia and Deira, and the union thus brought about
had a very perceptible bearing on our history. With his
vastly augmented power, the unscrupulous king was cap-
able of great deeds. Suspecting that the young Edwin
had found shelter among the Christianised tribesmen of
108
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/M»
\ IK
lower Strathclyde, the Northumbrians again crossed the
hills to the westward, overran the whole territory
between the Lake District and the Dee, and thus broke
for ever the continuity that had hitherto existed between
the Britons of Oumbria and Wales. This campaign is
remarkable for the illustration it furnishes of the savage
justice of these early kings. In his attack on Chester,
in 607, Ethelfrith gave an order which has earned him
much condemnation from modern scribes. "Hard by
the city," says Mr. Green in his admirable History of
the English People, " two thousand monks were gathered
in the monastery of Baneor, and after imploring, in a
three days' fast, the help of Heaven for their country,
a crowd of these ascetics followed the British army to
the field. Ethelfrith watched the wild gestures and
outstretched arms of the strange company as it stood
apart, intent on prayer, and took the monks for en-
chanters. ' Bear they arms or no, ' said the king, ' they
war against us when they cry against us to their God,'
and, in the surprise and rout which followed, the monks
were the first to fall." Of the whole number, only some
50 were saved. The effect of the slaughter was marvel-
lous. Instead of being filled with indignation at the
sacrifice of their spiritual guides, the Welshmen were
so completely horror-stricken as to lose tbeir nerve.
First they wavered, then they ran, and Ethelfrith gained
one of the easiest victories of his career.
NOUTHUMBHIA'S DEFEAT ON THE IDLE.
In spite of the carnage, the young Edwin was neither
found amongst the captured nor the slain. He had been
wandering in many places, and obtained hospitality in
not a few ; but it was not until he reached the Court of
Redwald, King of the East Angles, that he secured a
refuge from the storm which had so long threatened him.
When Ethelfrith was made acquainted with the lost
youth's whereabouts, he
endeavoured in many
ways to get possession of
his person. Failing in
these attempts, he sought
to bribe Redwald to mur-
der his unhappy guest ;
and because here, again,
he was baulked, he had
recourse to intimidation
of the most terrible de-
scription. The southern
king nobly declined to
listen to either threats or
entreaties. After thus resolving to defy his warlike
and formidable neighbour, Redwald — being assured
that a serious quarrel must follow — put himself at the
head of a numerous army, and determined to carry the
war into bis enemy's country. Ethelfrith was equally
active. Before Redwald had given his final response,
indeed, the Northumbrian leader had been concentrating
his forces, and now hoped, by a sudden advance, to catch
his rival on disadvantageous terms. There was mutual
surprise, therefore, when the hostile bodies came suddenly
together on the banks of the Idle, in 617, at a point not
far from the Nottinghamshire border. Though the
Northumbrians were outnumbered, they were not dis-
couraged. They had long been inured to hardships, were
splendidly trained in the use of their weapons, and were
as well disciplined as a long experience of battle grounds
could make them. The impetuosity of their attack led
very speedily to the discomfiture of a strong division,
under one of Redwald's sons, and fortune seemed likely
to smile upon them once more. But the East Anglians,
fighting with remarkable steadiness, offered an impene-
trable front to all subsequent onslaughts, and defied the
power of the Northmen to pierce their ranks. Impatient
at such resistance, and growing anxious about his own
small force, Ethelfrith and a devoted band of warriors
made a resolute dash at the enemy's centre. It was
splendidly checked, and, in the fierce struggle that
ensued, the dauntless king met a hero's death. Dis-
heartened by the fall of their veteran chieftain, the
Northumbrians slowly gave way. Being threatened on
the flank, however, their orderly retreat was turned into
a shameless stampede, and they fell by hundreds as they
rushed madly in the direction of York. On hearing of
thia overthrow, the sons of Ethelfrith fled to the Scots,
by whom they were hospitably treated, and the forsaken
country thus lay at the mercy of its long lost prince.
GREATNESS OF THE NORTH UNDER EDWIN.
Supported by the victorious army of his well-proved
friend and counsellor, Edwin at once continued his
triumphant progress. It soon became apparent that the
resistance to him would not be serious. Hundreds of his
countrymen hastened to join the young prince in his long
deferred home-coming, and by the time he reached the
royal ville, at Malton, an absolutely peaceful succession
was assured. Then began a reign of the most momentous
description. Northward, his conquests extended beyond
the Forth ; and Edwinsburgh — the stronghold by which
his new acquisitions were safeguarded — is still recognis-
able in the name of the present beautiful capital of
Scotland. Southward, his aggressive career was equally
irresistible ; and, with the aid of a newly-formed fleet,
the Isles of Anglesea and Man were added to his
dominions. So successful was he — both in his wars and
his politics — that, in spite of attempted assassination and
secret conspiracy, he gained for his territory a supremacy
over all the other kingdoms of the Heptarchy, and for
himself he earned the proud dignity of Bretwalda. It
was now that the greatness of Northumbria reached its
height. In addition to undoubted military skill, Edwin
displayed a genius for civil government, and soon evolved
something like order out of the existing chaos. So
marvellously quick was the betterness, indeed, that "a
woman with her babe might have walked scatheless from
March I
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
109
sea to sea." Peaceful communication was everywhere
revived along the deserted highways, and the springs by
the roadside were not only clearly indicated, but had
brass cups attached to them for the travellers' use. It
was an agreeable change for the people. For the king,
too, a rest from the toils of war must have possessed an
undoubted charm. Some faint traditions of the Roman
past seemed to be flinging their glory round this new
"empire of the English," or, "at any rate," says Mr.
Green, "some of its majesty had come back with its long
lost peace. A royal standard of purple and gold now
floated before Edwin as he rode through the villages ;
a feather-tuft, attached to a spear, preceded him as he
walked through the streets. The Northumbrian king
was, in fact, supreme over Britain as no king of English
blood had ever been before. "
BATTLE WITH THE MERCIANS AT HATFIELD CHASE.
It was while in the fulness of this splendour and power
that Edwin was converted to Christianity, and witnessed
the extraordinary fervour with which thousands of the
Anglian people accepted the new faith. It is un-
necessary in this place to explain how the superstitious
king was induced to listen to the teaching of Paulinus;
bow the heathen gods were overthrown ; or how, in the
brooks and water-courses of every Northern valley, the
settlers gathered to be baptised. Our purpose is more
with the causes that disturbed the popular security, and
these, in the olden time, were never long in coming. Not
satisfied with the progress made in his own kingdom,
Edwin sought to secure converts amongst the subjects of
his rivals. This was too much for the adherents of the
old religion, and the worshippers of Thor and Woden
rose to arms against Northumbria's interference with the
rights of conscience. It was at this time that Mercia
sprang into notoriety as the champion of the heathen
gods. Penda, its savage old king, was acute enough to
see that such a struggle might enable him to not only
win back his independence, but to snatch the over-
lordship for himself. Not strong enough for a single-
handed attack, however, he negotiated an alliance with
Cadwalla, the Welsh king, and thus brought the Britons
once more into antagonism with the Northumbrian ruler.
The allies were speedily in the field ; but before they
could penetrate far into the Northern kingdom, they
found themselves opposed to Edwin's forces. This
meeting took place at Hatfield Chase, some few miles
north of Doncaster, in the autumn of 633, and led to a
terrible disaster for the North. During the resolute and
determined battle that ensued, Edwin yielded up his
useful life in the midst of the furious combatants.
Around him fell his gallant son, Osfrid, and the bulk of
his most honoured chieftains. In the face of such a
calamity, the Northumbrians seemed powerless, and, in
the rout that ensued, they were scattered far and wide
across the plain. Heaps of slain were left as relics of the
heathen triumph, and as indications of the fate that was
soon to befall so many other bands of the faithful.
THE BRITONS AS MASTERS.
Cadwalla at once moved northward, and took posses-
sion of the fortress at York ; while Penda directed his
exertions against the converts of the Southern kingdoms.
Success attended the allies in both directions. Among
the valleys and hills of Yorkshire, as well as in the
fenlauds of East Anglia, their arms were borne in
triumph. The march routes were broadly marked by
ruined dwellings and mutilated corpses. The weakness
of womanhood and the innocence of childhood were no
protection. Neither age nor sex were spared, and "the
barbarity of torture too frequently added bitterness to
death." Paulinus fled the land, his chosen ministers
dispersed, and the followers of the new doctrine hid
themselves in sore tribulation. In the months of
tyranny that succeeded, the so-called Christian king was,
if possible, more savagely cruel than his Pagan ally.
Nothing seemed to diminish his outrageous vindictive-
ness. The Northumbrians, strangely enough, made no
attempt to exert themselves as a nation. The loss of
their king had so completely demoralised them that
they witnessed the division of their land without a
protest. Osric, a cousin of Edwin, snatched a very
doubtful position as lord of Deira ; and Eanfrid, a
faint-hearted son of Ethelfrith, hastened from Scotland
to mount the throne of Bernicia. Both were professing
Christians when they began their sovereignty ; but both
quickly apostatised in the hope that Penda's wrath
would thereby be appeased. The expectation, however,
was not realised. The King of the Mercians was far
too busy to interfere, and Cadwalla's animosity was far
too keen to allow of any thought of forgiveness. Seeing
the utter futility of pleading, Osric, in 634, assailed the
Welshmen in their stronghold on the Ouse, and paid the
penalty of his rashness with his life. Eanfrid tried more
gentle means, but was equally unfortunate. Taking with
him a dozen stalwart soldiers, he entered the presence
of Cadwalla, with all humility, to sue for union and
peace. Here again there was bloodshed. The foolishly
trustful stranger had scarcely made himself known before
he was murdered, and Northumbria was once more
dominated by a branch of the ancient race.
The divisions of the Heptarchy are shnwn on our map.
1 and 2 were Bernicia and Deira (better known as North-
umbria) ; 3, Mercia ; 4, East Anglia ; 5, Wessex ; 6,
South Saxony ; 7, East Saxony ; 8, Kent. The first four
were occupied by the Angles, the next three by the
Saxons, and Kent by the Jutes. The whole of the West
Coast, lettered B, was occupied by the Britons at the
close of the sixth century.
The smaller map illustrates the site of two eventful
battles, which, as will be seen, were both fought along
the line of the old Roman road. Doncaster was an
important station of the Caesars even in the earliest days
of our history, and it became later a favourite seat of the
Northumbrian kings, Coningsborough, too, contained
the strongest of their Southern citadels, and formed a
110
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
secure retreat in times of national danger or popular dis-
content. Near it is a mound that is supposed to contain
the remains of Hengist the Saxon ; and not far away is
Tickhill Castle, a fortress that played a not unimportant
part in the wars of the Commonwealth.
. ^turo l\rrbro'o
j]R. SIMS REEVES having recently published
his autobiography, we are able to give an
extract therefrom which confirms the state-
ment made in the Monthly Chronicle, vol. ii., page 234.
Mr. Reeves says : —
I was born October 21, 1821, at Shooter's Hill, in Kent.
My father was a musician, and it was said that at an
early age I used my voice with no little skill. When
fourteen years old I performed the duties of organist at
North Cray Church, where I likewise had charge of the
MR. SIMS REEVES.
local choir. " Doctors differ," it is said ; so, top, do sing-
ing masters. The professor under whom I studied treated
me as a baritone ; yes, and as a baritone I came
upon the stage, and succeeded. While studying harmony
and counterpoint under Mr. H. Calcott I practised the
piano with John Cramer. I also learned to play more
than one musical instrument, including the violin, violon-
cello, oboe, and bassoon ; in fact, so proficient did I
become as a violinist, that at the beginning of my career
I not seldom undertook the duties of orchestral
leader. In 1839, being then in my eighteenth year, I
made my d&ut at the Newcastle-on-Tyne Theatre, as the
Gipsy Boy in "Guy Mannering," for the benefit of the
late tenor George Barker.
Shortly afterwards Mr. Reeves secured an engage-
ment at the Grecian Theatre, London, under the name
of "Mr. Johnson," followed by an engagement with
Macready at Drury Lane. In 1843, he studied in Paris,
proceeding to Milan, where he made his cUbut at La
Scala.
fleto
NEW and handsome Town Hall, to which
are added an entire series of municipal
buildings, was opened at Middlesbrough-on-
Tees on January 23, 1889, by the Prince
and Princess of Wales. Such was the interest taken in
the proceedings that 150,000 people lined the route of the
royal procession. The Prince and Princess during their
visit to the North were the guests of the Earl of Zetland
at Aske Hall.
Our sketch of the Town Hall, taken from a photograph
by Mr. R. W. Gibbs, gives a complete view of this splen-
did pile of buildings. The Corporation, anxious to meet
the growing requirements of the borough, offered prizes
for the best designs, and appointed as umpire Mr. Water-
house, of London. The first prize was awarded to Mr.
George Gordon Hoskins, of Darlington, and the selection
of Mr. Hoskins's design was readily endorsed by the Cor-
poration. Mr. Hoskins evidently aimed at raising a
structure which should be externally expressive of the
purposes for which it is intended. His treatment is
dignified and effective. He would probably describe the
style as thirteenth century Gothic, suffused with the
feeding and spirit of the present time. It is much the
same as that adopted with marked success in the Man-
chester Town Hall and the Manchester Assize Courts.
The foundation stone of the New Town Hall and
Municipal Buildings, which will cost about £120,000, was
laid by the Mayor of the borough, Mr. Alderman
Fiddler, on October 24, 1883, and the work of erection
has been carried out by Mr. Ephraim Atkinson, builder,
of Bradford.
<«fl)e
of
The Mayor of Middlesbrough, Raylton Dixon, Esq., of
the Cleveland Dockyard Company and Gunnergate Hall,
Marton, was unanimously elected to the office of chief
magistrate, although not a member of the Corporation,
as the most suitable citizen for such a post in antici-
pation of the Royal visit to the town. Mr. Dixon was
born at Newcastle-on-Tyne in 1838, being the son
of the late Mr. J. Dixon, of Wray, near Ambleside.
Educated at private schools, he launched into life under
the eye of Mr. Coutts, one of the earliest shipbuilders on
March I
ISS9. f
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
Ill
the Tyne. Afterwards he was with Messrs. C. Mitchell
and Co. In 1859, Mr. Dixon went to Middlesbrough as
manager of a branch establishment of Messrs. Richard-
son and Duck, of Stockton, and from that time till
the present his record has been one of indomitable
energy, grappling with and finally conquering the diffi-
culties that beset the path to success. In 1863, as partner
with Mr. Backhouse, he became a principal in the firm of
Backhouse and Dixon, whose name was at one time a
household word in the town. On the retirement of Mr.
Backhouse, the interest centred entirely in Mr. Dixon,
who with his brother, Mr. Waynman Dixon, now carries
on the important works as Messrs. Raylton Dixon
and Co. Mr. Dixon's connection with municipal life
dates from the year which saw the opening of the Albert
Park — the gift of Mr. Bolckow — by Prince Arthur, in
1868. When Mr. Dixon retired from the Town
Council last year, he was the oldest member of that
body. In politics, Mr. Dixon is a staunch Conservative,
and as such he stood against the sitting member in 1885.
, gucljtteet.
Mr. George Gordon Hoskins, of Thornbeck Hill,
Darlington, the architect of the handsome Gothic pile
comprising the Town Hall and Municipal Buildings at
Middlesbrough, is a gentleman well known in all the
leading architectural circles of the United Kingdom.
Mr. Hoskins is the eldest son of the late Captain
Francis Hoskins, of the 1st Royals, his mother being
Julia, second daughter of Mr. William Hill, of
Temple House, near Portsmouth. His paternal grand-
father was Mr. Abraham Hoskins, of Newton Park and
Bladon Castle, near Burton-on -Trent, whose sister
married Mr. Bass, the father of the late Mr. Michael
Thomas Bass, who was for many years M.P. for Derby,
and whose eldest son is now Lord Burton. Mr.
Hoskins first engaged in practice in London, but subse-
quently removed to Darlington in the year 1864-, where
bis abilities found early recognition. A large number of
public and private buildings in Durham and North
Yorkshire have been erected from his designs. Mr.
Hoskins is the author of several works connected with
architecture, some of which have obtained wide circula-
tion. Our portrait is copied from a photograph by Mr.
James Cooper, of Darlington.
Jttr. JUtlliam /allow*, ?.?.
William Fallows, one of the oldest and most respected
citizens of Middlesbrough, was born at the picturesque
village of Sleights, near Whitby, on December 10, 1797—
so that he is now in his 92nd year. Whilst an infant, his
parents settled in Linthorpe, the native place of his
mother. Subsequently they moved to Stockton, where Mr.
Fallows's father became a schoolmaster. Young Fallows
was sent to the Blue Coat School in that town. In 1811
he was apprenticed to a firm of iron and timber merchants
for seven years. After completing his term, he remained
in their service for several years. In 1829 he was ap-
pointed shipping agent at Stockton for the Stockton
and Darlington Railway Company, and in the following
year, when the railway was extended to Middlesbrough,
he was promoted to the office of superintendent of the
. Fallows .
Railway Company's shipping of coals. As Middlesbrough
developed, the Railway Company constructed a dock,
which has since been several times enlarged, and Mr.
Fallows, notwithstanding his great age, still holds his
position as superintendent. The venerable gentleman
has been a member of the Tees Conservancy Commission
since its formation, and has taken a prominent part in
its proceedings. He was also a member of the Middles-
brough Corporation for many years, and in 1859 he was
Mayor of the borough. For a long time he was one of
the Guardians of the Poor, and he devoted a great deal
of his active life to public work. Mr. Fallows has now
and then from the rich store of his own recollections
contributed scraps of antiquarian information to the
columns of the Newcastle Weekly Chronicle.
112
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
(March
March )
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
113
at WaUrf fltitr tfte
CfttUtttgftffiit 25ttll.
j]HE boar, the bear, and the wolf may still be
hunted in continental countries ; but, in
England, there remain nothing more ter-
rible than the herds of white cattle, which roam
through the well-wooded dells of Chillingham Park.
They are said to be remnants of the stock that ran
wild amid the forests and hills of ancient Northum-
bria, and their shaggy appearance even now is both
picturesque and formidable. It is very little more.
There are occasions, of course, when they forget the
civilizing tendencies of artificial feeding, and resort to the
headlong charges of the olden time. An incident of the
kind has been depicted by no less a master than Landseer,
and the large painting occupies a prominent place in the
dining hall of Chillingham. It appears that the present
Earl of Tankerville, when a young man, was attacked
while riding across the cattle enclosure, and would have
sustained serious injury if a watchful gillie had not
opportunely shot his incensed assailant. But in spite of
this occurrence, the character of the breed is hardly bad
enough to justify extreme precautions against them. The
Prince of Wales paid a visit to Chillingham in the month
of October, 1872, when it was announced that he would
signalise the occasion by shooting the noblest specimen of
the herd. His Royal Highness allowed himself to be
stowed away in a hay cart that was carrying the pooi
creatures their breakfast, and was thus able, from the
hungry and unsuspecting herd that followed him, to
exterminate the king bull at leisure. The plan, no doubt,
was in accordance with courtly notions of safety, and
was eminently calculated to secure the object in view ;
but it was scarcely a feat to warrant any unusual iubi-
Ik Priocfl ofc-Walos Mta Chiiiing^ara Bull, o.ctn.isfe;
8
114
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/M«rch
\ 1889.
lation. Yet, as the sequel shows, the feat was highly
appreciated in very distinguished circles. A few hours
after the tragedy, the carcase wad brought from the
scene of slaughter, and carefully deposited on the castle
lawn. The photographer was ready, the Prince not un-
willing, and the result as shown in our sketch.
llcmtfd.
£tmt, pltoU'is Caaistroag, Jleektn
Jttaibm Wag, &c.
j|HE only Ermyn Street (Eormen Street) with
which we have to do was that direct route
which ran from Pevensey (Anderida), on the
coast of Sussex, through London, and across
the counties of Middlesex, Herts, Cambridge, and Hunt-
ingdon, to Lincoln (Lindum), and thence to the Humber
at Ferriby, crossing that river thereabouts, converging on
the central city of York, and sending out branches
through the East and North Ridings, to Aldborough in
Holderness (the country of the Parish), to Malton (Der-
ventio), Pickering (Delgovitia), Filey Bay (Portus Salu-
taris), Flamborough (Ocellum Promontorium), and Duns-
ley Bay, near Whitby (the Dunum Sinus of Ptolemy),
where a terminal station is believed to have been situated.
From York northwards the main line seems to have gone
on by Easingwold, Thirsk, and Northallerton— at wbich
latter place there are indubitable traces of the Roman
occupation — to the Tees, where it probably ran into the
Watling Street between Stanwick and Croft, so as to
cross at Piercebridge. But, if so, it shortly afterwards
diverged easterly, and went on towards Durham and
Newcastle, by Aycliffe, Rushyford, Chilton, Ferryhill,
Sunderlaud Bridge, Chester-le-Street (Condercum), Birt-
ley, and over Gateshead Fell to Gateshead (Gabrosentum)
and the bridge across the Tyne (Pons j3Slii). From New-
castle it may possibly have continued in the same direc-
tion, in the line afterwards taken by the Great North
Road, by Morpeth, Aluwick, Belford, and Tweedmouth,
to Berwick-upon-Tweed, where there was a principal
station, on the site of which the remains of the castle now
stand. But, if it pursued this route, all trace of it seems
to have been obliterated long ago.
The Devil's Causeway is a name that was given by our
ancestors to a road, likewise known as Ermyn Street,
which ran across Northumberland (the country of the
Ottodini), from Halton Chesters (Richard of Cirencester's
Ad Murum), passing on the east side of Kirk Heaton,
and thence over the Wansbeck, near the point where the
Wansbeck Valley Railway crosses that river, by Thornton
(Roger Thornton's birthplace), a short way to the east
of Hartburn Church, in a straight course between
Nether Witton and Witton Shields, to where the
ruins of Brinkburn Priory now stand. It crossed the
Coquet a little below the priory, at a place where the
remains of the piers of the Roman bridge were perfectly
distinct some years ago (and perhaps still are), "par-
ticularly the ashlar work on the north side, covered with
elm trees," as a learned correspondent wrote to Mackenzie
in 1824-. There were likewise on the hill above the priory
evident traces of a Roman villa, a few yards from the
military way, the rampart and ditch across the neck of
land being very apparent, likewise the foundations of
houses and lines of the street ; but the stones had un-
doubtedly been all used for building the priory. After
passing Brinkburn the Causeway proceeded over Rimside
Moor, crossed the Aln below Whittingham, passed Shaw-
don and Glanton (where it was locally known as the
Deor or Deer Street), to the Till, near Fowberry, then by
Horton Castle, Lowick, and Ancroft, to the Tweed,
which it crossed, according to some authorities, at a
place called the Corn Mills, near West Ord, a little
above Berwick; but, according to others, crossing the
river at Tweedmouth, and thence passing by Ayton and
Cockburnspath over the Lammermoors into East and
Mid Lothian, where several Chesters, as near Spott,
Drem, &c., would seem to mark its route, though there
are no other existing traces. The Devil's Causeway was
constructed, like the other Roman roads, ' with large
stones in the centre and smaller ones at/ the sides. It was
fully eight yards broad and two yards high, with four
ditches, owing to there being a carriage road in the
middle, and a narrow road on each side for foot passen-
gers ; and so solidly was it constructed, that the great
original ridge still in several places remains unbroken, as
stated in Maclauchlan's survey, executed at the cost of
the Duke of Northumberland. The road was connected
with the Watling Street by two branches at least. One of
these started from Bremenium, and went off in a north-
westerly direction by the Dudlees, Branshaw, and Yard-
hope to Campville, close to Holystone, where Paulinus,
as recorded by the Venerable Bede, converted and bap-
tised several thousand Pagans. Then, passing the Coquet
near Sharperton, it went past the Trewitts to Lorbottle,
Callaly, and Eslington to Barton, where it joined the
Devil's Causeway before it crossed the river Aln, to the
north of which stands Crawley Tower, built upon the
east angle of a Roman station on an eminence near the
road, which has been considered to be the Alauna Amnis
of Richard of Cirencester. It is probable that this road
was continued from Barton, by Alnwick, down to the
port of Alnmouth, during the Lower Empire, since great
quantities of grain were shipped from Britain to supply
the Roman armies and garrisons on the Rhine. The
second branch seems to have been formed to connect a
chain of forts running round from the Watling Street,
near Troughend, by Elsdon, Hepple, Tosson, Whitton,
&c., with the Devil's Causeway.
The Recken Dyke, or Wrecken Dyke— so called in
March!
19. /
1889.
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
115
North Durham— is supposed to be the north-eastern
portion of the Rycknild Street, described in Drayton's
"Polyolbion," as well as by Ralph Higden, as stretching
obliquely quite across the island, from St. David's
(Menapia), the most westerly point of South Wales, " to
the fall of Tyne into the German Sea." Beginning at
this end, Horsley, who was reckoned in his day " the
prince of antiquaries," says : — "It seems to have come
from the station (at South Shields), and to have crossed
the marsh, then possibly a branch of the river, not far
from the station. Thence it has passed most probably
through, or a little to the east of, a house called Lay
Gate ; from thence it seems to have gone near a house
called the Barns, the garden wall probably standing on
it ; and so on to the Draw Bridge close by Jarrow Slike.
For this space, the traces of this way are very obscure and
uncertain. In the 6eld beyond this bridge, the track of it
is plain, and for near the full breadth of the enclosure
sensibly raised above the level of the rest of the ground,
though it runs cross the ridges. On the west side of
this field or enclosure there is a small descent, and in the
bottom a lane, which is the highway leading from Bowdon
to Shields, and a small ascent on the other side in the field
joining to this lane. As the military way descends on the
one side and ascends on the other, it is bent into a curve,
and then falls into the right line, in which it seems to be
continued all the way to Gateshead Fell, for the space of
five or six miles ; from thence it goes towards Lamesley
and Kibblesworth, which it leaves a little to the south.
It was very visible all the way, not many years ago,
before Sir Henry Liddall inclosed and improved these
grounds ; and the gardener at Cousin's House, who had
formerly wrought on Gateshead Fell, assured me he had
seen and helped to dig up some stones out of Wreken
Dyke, which he called Bracken Dyke, so that he was
altogether of opinion that this part of it had been paved.
This way passes on towards Beamish, and I make no doubt
has gone forward to Lanchester. It is indeed lost on the
moor beyond Beamish ; nor is it any great wonder that it
should be so, considering how soft and mossy it is. ...
There is a remarkable tumulus near this way, not far
from Ravensworth, besides which I observed another
very considerable one, about a mile from Lanchester,
called the Maiden Law, and probably the military
way has not been far from this tumulus." In another
place Horsley eays : — " It consists of firm gravel and
sand, and is hard and compact, so as to make a very
good way at this time, at all seasons of the year. I also
believe it has a mixture of stones, or somewhat of pave-
ment."
Horsley thinks the road must have terminated at Lan-
chester ; but John Cade, of Durham, in a paper drawn
up by him, and addressed to the Dean of Lincoln (Dr.
Kaye), on the Roman roads in the County of Durham,
traces the Rycknild Street from St. David's, past Old
Derby and Chesterfield (Lutudarum), to York, and from
thence by Thornton-le-Street, near Thirsk, to Sockburn-
on-Tees, where the river was crossed by a ford, thence by
Sadberge, Stainton-le-Street, Bradbury, and Mainsforth,
to Old Durham, where the Romans certainly had a sta-
tion, over against which, on a tall cliff now known as the
Maiden Scar, stood a fortification which has received the
name of Maiden Castle. From Durham the road went
over Chester Common to Chester-le-Street, and thence by
the Black Fell, Usworth, Fellonby, Simonside, and Lay-
gate, to South Shields station on the Lawe. That such a
road was carried by the Romans through the central parts
of the County Palatine, on the line here indicated, or near
to it, the existing names of the places would not permit
us to doubt, even were there no vestiges remaining on the
surface at this day. The obvious similarity of name
between Reckon and Rycknild disposes us to think that
there was but one great transverse line of road leading
from the south-west coast to the mouth of the Tyne
which received this appellation ; but the authorities are
so confused and contradictory, and the positive informa-
tion they convey so meagre, that it is impossible to coine
to any satisfactory conclusion on the point.
The etymologies of Rycknild and Wrekin, given by
Horsley, Hutchinson, Bertram, and other antiquaries, are
quite conjectural, and of no value. Burton, in his com-
mentary on Antoninus's Itinerary through Britain, reads
Icknel instead of Rycknild, and derives the word from
the Iceni, who inhabited Norfolk and Suffolk ; others
point to the Wrekin in Shropshire, over or near which the
Watling Street passed, as possibly affording some clue
to the meaning of the name. For our own part we con-
ceive that the original term must have been Reken or
Recken Dyke, meaning the "Giant's Dyke." In
Icelandic " regin " is used in the Eddaic poems for the
gods, as in " blith regin " the blythe gods ; "uppregin,"
the powers above, the celestial gods; "ragnarock, " the
twilight of the gods, the last day. And in Hugo von
Togenberg's "Runner," a curious German poem of tha
fourteenth century, we are told : —
How Master Dietrick fought with Ecken,
And how of old the stalwart Recken
Were all by woman's craft betrayed.
The Maiden Way was the name given by the natives to
a great causeway which turned off from the Watling
Street, a little beyond Catterick, and went by Greta
Bridge, where there is a small but very distinctly marked
Roman camp, situated in the field close behind the
Morritt Arms Inn, to the more important camp of Bowes
(Lavatree) and Roy, Rey, or Rere Cross, the Cross of the
Kings, on Stainmoor, at the summit of the pass from
Yorkshire into Westmoreland. The cross standing there
marks the spot (so tradition says) where William the
Conqueror and Malcolm Canmore met in arms, but
wisely resolved to settle their dispute amicably, and
accordingly set up a stone to mark the boundary of the
two kingdoms. Holinshed thus states the conditions on
116
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
{
March
which the kings concluded peace : — " That Malcolm
should enjoy that part of Northumberland which lies
between Tweed, Cumberland, and Stainrnoor, and do
homage to the King of England for the same ; and that
in the midst of Stainmoor there should a cross be set up,
with the King of England's image on the one side, and
the King of Scotland's on the other, to signify that one is
to march to England and the other to Scotland. " From
thence the way went on to Brough (Vertere or Verteris),
Appleby (Galacum), Kirkby Thore (Brovonacae), Temple
Sowerby, Brougham Castle (Brocavium), Penrith (Vo-
reda), and Carlisle (Luguvallum), where it fell into the
great north-western line leading into Scotland, by
Netherby, Middleby, Castleover, Lanark, &c., to Paisley
and Dumbarton (Theodosia).
Prom Kirkby Thore, the Maiden Way struck off in a
different direction from what it had previously followed,
over the skirt of Cross Fell into the valley of the South
Tyne, near Alston, to the station at Whitley Castle
(Alione), the site of which is nearly opposite Kirkhaugh
Church, and on the north side of Gilderdale Burn. Froir.
that place it proceeded eastwards to Whittonstall, be-
tween Ebchester and Corbridge. where it ran into the
Watling Street. There was most likely an easterly con-
tinuation of it, by way of Hedley, Coalburns, Winlaton,
&c., connecting it with the Reken Dyke, which ran to
Jarrow and South Shields, and also with the road
leading to Gabrosentum and Pons ^-Elii. Local tradition
bears this out ; but all trace of the road seems now to be
obliterated.
The north portion of the Maiden Way struck off from
the line of the Roman Wall at the station of Birdoswald
(Amboglanna), a little to the westward of the place where
the Wall crosses the Irthing ; and it proceeded nearly
direct north, crossing the summit of the mountain ridge
called Side Fell, and descending into the vale of Bew-
castle, passing that place to the east of the station, the
Roman name of which is matter of dispute (like that, we
may remark cursorily, of many other stations), Horsley
believing it to have been Apiatorium, Hodgson Banna,
and Maughan Galava. From Bewcastle, it ascended the
rising ground on the north side of the Kirk Beck, to a
place called Raestown. Between this place and the
Scottish Border the line is not easily traced, owing to
parts of the way being covered with moss, and in other
places through the occupants of the ground having car-
ried away the stones to build fences. But after crossing
the White Lyne, a tributary of the Esk, it ran past the
Grey Crag, keeping to the right of Christenbury Crags,
to a camp at Cross. It then crossed the Black Lyne,
near its junction with another small stream, where there
has been a strong position. Next it crossed the Skelton
Pike, forded the Kershope Water, and entered Scottish
ground. The Maiden Way between the Wall and Bew-
castle is descri))ed as being above twenty -one feet broad,
and made with sandstone. The stones are laid on their
edges, and generally in the centre; on the sides they
are found lying flat. Where streams of water cross the
path, they are carried below it by means of culverts,
covered with large flags.
There are several other Maiden Ways in different parts
of England, all so called, we fancy, from their being
"made," that is, raised or elevated above the surface of
the grounds through which they ran.
After crossing the Border, the Maiden Way received
another name — the Wheel Causeway— doubtless from its
being the only road in the district it ran through that was
practicable for wheeled carriages. Proceeding northward
a little to the west of Muirdykes, now a station on the
Waverley route, it passed one of the sources of the Lid-
dell, at a place called Bagrawford, and then went on past
the Peel and the Wheel Church to the table land which
divides Liddesdale from Teviotdale, crossing between
Wheeling Head on the right and Needs Law on the left.
Then it bends away to the northward, a little to the west
of Ravenburn, and makes for the eastern slope of Wolflee-
hill, thence by the west side of Mackside to Bonchester
Hill, on the Rule, where there was a principal station.
From this point there are but few traces left of the road,
which seems, however, to have branched out into several
ways, and in particular towards and past Jedburgh, in the
direction of Crailing and Eckford, and also of the Wat-
ling Street at Street House, as indicated by a chain of
forts or strengths running eastward from Bonchester,
including Chesters, Camptown, and Cunziertown, near
the station at Street House, and thence probably by
Chesterhouse, near Hownam Law, Morebattle, Linton,
and Lempitlaw, to Kerchesters, in the parish of Sprous-
ton, where it would run into the road skirting the south
bank of the Tweed from Cornhill, opposite Coldstream
where there are very extensive earthworks — the most
remarkable possibly north of the Wall — past Wark, Car-
ham, and Maxwellheugh, to Roxburgh, at the junction
between the Tweed and the Teviot, and so on to the
Watling Street at Lilliard's Edge. But it would be end-
less to pursue further the problematical ramifications of
these Wheel Causeways, which seem to have permeated
the whole country immediately north of the Cheviots, but
of which the traces now remain only in the names of such
places as Chesters, Blackchesters, Rowchesters, Chester-
halls, &c.
A name applied to several parts of the Watling Street
running from York and Catterick to Corchester was the
Learning Lane, an appellation the memory of which is
still preserved in the names of many places along the
line, in Yorkshire, Durham, and Northumberland, such
as Learning, Leamside, the Learns, Ac. In all probability
the word is just a corruption of the Latin "limes," a
boundary.
Another name current in sundry localities is the Stane
Street, about the interpretation of which there is no
doubt. One of these Stane Streets or Stanegates afforded
March \
1889. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
117
a direct line of communication between Cilurnum (Ches-
ters) and Magna (Caervoran), for the accommodation,
doubtless, of those whose business did not require them
to call at any intermediate point. It passed near the
modern village of Newbrough, and skirted the north gate
of the station at Vindolana (Chester Holm).
WILLIAM BKOCKIE.
^atal asallfffftt Ss'ctnt tvam
fleto cattle.
|JN the evening of Monday, August 15, 1859,
an immense number of people were assembled
in the old Cricket Ground, Bath Road,
Newcastle, to witness a balloon ascent, the aeronaut
being a man named William Henry Hall, better known
as "Captain Hall," who had a great reputation as a
gymnast. The entertainment, or "grand gala" as it
was called, was a speculation of Mr. Smith, the first
lessee of the Victoria Music Hall, Grey Street, and
as regards attendance the affair was certainly a suc-
cess. Special trains were run to Newcastle, not only from
many places in the locality, but from even as far as
Berwick. As the evening was very fine, everything pro-
mised to pass off pleasantly. It took three hours to
inflate the balloon ; but at ten minutes to seven the
ascent was made amidst the crash of music and the loud
cheers of the spectators.
When at the height of about a thousand feet, Hall got
out of the car, and began a series of most extraordinary
jjyrations on a trapeze, holding on first by his hands
and then by his feet, while he performed his sickening
exploits. Women screamed, and even strong men averted
their faces in terror, so that it was quite a relief when the
acrobat again took his seat in the car. Shortly after this,
attention was called to the apparent eccentricities of the
balloon, which at times descended quite low, and again
shot up suddenly to a great height, until it appeared no
larger than an ordinary hat. Finally, it passed out of
sight, and the people in the grounds became interested in
the music of the bands and other entertainments provided
for them.
Soon after ten o'clock, the cab which had been en-
gaged to follow the balloon and its occupant arrived
at the Cricket Ground. The driver had a sad story
to tell. He reported that the poor "captain" had
fallen from the car, and was then lying in a critical con-
dition at the residence of Mr. Hugh Lee Pattinson,
Scots House, near the Felling. Mr. Smith, accompanied
by a surgeon, immediately drove to the scene of the
accident. Some men who were working in a field when
the balloon descended, stated that it came down slowly
and steadily, and that Mr. Hall was just in the act of
stepping out when it rose again with great velocity.
Hall's feet became entagled in the ropes, and for some
seconds he hung suspended head downwards, and
then fell a distance of fully 120 feet. He was taken np
unconscious, placed upon a couple of corn "stooks,"and
carried into Mr. Pattinson's house. That gentleman did
all he could for the sufferer ; and on the arrival of Mr.
Smith with medical assistance, it was found that no
bones were broken, nor were there wounds of any
kind to be seen. Mr. Pattinson provided a spring cart,
which was made as comfortable as possible with
cushions, &c., and the injured man was conveyed to
Newcastle. On his admission into the Infirmary, he was
attended chiefly by Dr. Gibb, who from the first did
not take a very cheerful view of the case, and it soon
appeared that the doctor was right in his diagnosis.
Poor Hall lingered until Thursday, 18th August, when he
succumbed to the effects of his terrible fall. The funeral
took place on the following Sunday, at Elswick Cemetery,
an immense crowd being present at the ceremony.
Two or three incidents in this fatal balloon ascent are
worth recording. When Hall fell from the car, the
ground was deeply indented in two places ; and yet his
watch was quite uninjured, and continued to "go" until
it had run down. A favourite little dog, of great intelli-
gence, was in the car with his master, and was at his heels
ready to jump when the balloon escaped from the grapp-
lings. Much pity was felt for the poor dumb animal.
which was never seen afterwards. Nor was the balloon
itself ever re-captured.
JIANGLEY CASTLE, the capital seat of the
barony of Tynedale in the feudal times, can
be approached either from Haydon Bridge.
distant about a mile and a half, or from
Hexham, eight and a half miles off, by the Hexham and
Allendale Railway. It is described in Turner's "Domestic
Architecture of the Middle Ages " as a fine example of a
tower-built house of the latter half of the fourteenth cen-
tury. Built about 1360 by Sir Thomas de Lucy, probably
on the site of an older residence of the Tindales, it was
destroyed in 1+05 by Henry IV., as he advanced into
Northumberland to put down Archbishop Scrope's rebel-
lion, which the Earl of Northumberland had joined.
"Its ashlar stone work," says Mr. W. J. Palmer, in his
"Tyne and its Tributaries," published in 1882, "appears
as sharp and good as though it had only just been put
up ; but neglect and abandonment have deprived its
upper parts, windows, and openings of some of the
masonry, the interior, with its fittings, having been de-
stroyed by fire at some remote period." " On approach-
ing it for the first time," he adds, "we seem to see the old
stronghold very much as it must have appeared when it
118
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
I March
\ 1889.
was the habitable seat of the barony of Tynedale. It has
a strong tower or turret at each of the four corners, and
immensely thick walls. Its position is not much raised
above the plain, and there has been no moat round it,
or external defence, the founders having relied on the
strength of its walls and the garrison behind them. " In
Hodgson's "Topographical and Historical Description
of the County of Northumberland," contributed to that
standard work of reference, "The Beauties of England
and Wales," we find the following description of Langley
Castle :—
It is well situated on the south bank of the Tyne, and
though it has of late years been barbarously handled, it is
by far the most perfect ruin of the kind in the county. It
is in the form of the letter H, its walls near seven feet
thick, its inside twenty-four feet by eighty, and the
towers, one at each corner, about sixty-six feet high. The
rooms remaining are all arched with stone ; those in the
towers are fourteen feet square, and the four small fire
rooms on the east each eleven feet by thirteen. The
ground rooms, on the east and west, four on each side,
have been much injured by being used as farm offices.
The windows which have lighted the great hall, kitchens,
&c., are large; those in the chambers mostly small, and
built at an angle that would prevent the entrance of an
enemy's arrow. The stone of which this fabric is built
is yet so remarkably fresh as to exhibit in their primitive
sharpness the characters of the masons. The whole of
the inside is red with marks of fire.
What here has been said of the old stronghold must be
understood to apply to its condition a few years ago ; for
Mr. Cadwallader J. Bates, its present proprietor, has since
made such changes and restorations as have rendered the
place habitable.
The manor and barony of Langley were held by Adam
de Tindale, qf King Henry I., by the service of one
knight's fee ; and his grandson, of the same name, had
livery of them in the sixth year of King Henry III. (A.D.
1222), by paying a hundred shillings for a relief, accord-
ing to the tariff then established, which was at the rate of
centum solidi for every knight's fee. This Adam left only
two daughters, his co-heirs, one of whom, named Philippa,
became the wife of Richard de Bolteby, who, upon the
division of his father-in-law's estate, obtained the barony,
which continued for some generations in his family. But
male issue failing, it passed by marriage to Thomas, son
of Adam de Multon, who had assumed the name of Lucy,
from his mother, one of the co-heirs of Richard Lucy, of
Egremont. This Thomas Lord Lucy (so designated by
Wallis, copying an inquisition in the* Tower of London,
of the 33rd year of King Edward I.), became the husband
of Isabel, daughter and one of the co-heirs of the last
Adam de Bolteby, and therefore acquired the Langley
lordship. A stirring event in the history of one of his
immediate successors is thus related : — In the year 1323,
by order of King Edward II., Anthony Lord Lucy
seized Andrew de Hercla or Herkley, Earl and Governor
of Carlisle, for high treason, in the castle of Carlisle. He
was assisted in the affair by Sir Richard Denton, Sir
Hugh Lowther, and Sir Hugh Moriceby, knights, and
four esquires. Sir Richard killed the porter of the inner
gate who attempted to shut it against the party; but
one of the earl's servants escaped to the Peel, a castle at
Heihead, High Head, or as it was anciently written Pela
de Hivehead, the seat of his lordship's brother, Michael
Hercla, who by that means was informed of the disaster,
and fled into Scotland with Sir William Blount, a Scot-
tish knight, and others of his faction. In reward for his
service, Lord Lucy was made governor of the castles of
Carlisle, Appleby, and Egremont ; and, in the following
year, he obtained a grant in fee of the castle and honour
of Cockermouth, for which, as also for the manor of Lang-
ley, he procured the privileges of free warren, " for the
preservation of hares, conies, partridges, and pheasants,
or any of them."
The hero of this adventure left Langley to his son
Thomas, who in his turn left it to his son Anthony ; and
he, dying without male issue, and his daughter and heir
Johanna surviving him only five years and three-quarters,
and dying unmarried, was succeeded in his baronial
honours and estates by his sister Matilda, wife of Sir
Gilbert de Umfraville, Earl of Angus, after whose death
she married Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland, upon
whom and his heirs male she settled her whole fortune,
under the easy condition that, as their hearts were, so the
arms of the two noble families might be united, for a
memorial of her affection.
Langley Castle and estate continued in the Percy
family until the attainder of Henry Earl of Northumber-
land by King Edward IV., after the battle of Towtou,
in which he fell, leading the van of the Lancastrians,
sword in hand. They then came into the possession of
John Nevil, Marquis of Montacute, who held them six
years, and he resigned them to Sir Henry Percy, Lord
Poynings, on the latter being restored to his position and
dignity, on subscribing an oath of allegiance to the
Yorkist king in his palace at Westminster. The Percies
kept possession of the castle and manor for about two
centuries, but lost it in the reign of Queen Elizabeth,
when Thomas Percy, seventh Earl of Northumberland,
being involved in some of the intrigues for restoring
Mary Queen of Scots, was driven into rebellion in 1569,
and forced to fly into Scotland, whence he was, for a sum
of money, betrayed to death in the hands of the Lord
Huusdon, by the Regent, James Douglas, Earl of Mor-
ton, who had formerly, during his exile in England, been
much indebted to Percy's friendship. Langley afterwards
became the property of the Ratcliffes, with whom it con-
tinued till it was forfeited by James, the last Earl of Der-
wentwater, in 1745, when it was transferred, with the rest
of his valuable estates, by Act of Parliament, to the
Commissioners of Greenwich Hospital, by whom it was
sold, in October, 1882, to Mr. C. J. Bates, the present
proprietor.
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NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
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jjHIS famous old fortalice is distant about nine
and a half miles north -north-west from Hex-
ham, four miles north-west from Chollertoni
and one mile or thereabouts from Wark, which lies on
the opposite side of the North Tyne. Leland calls
" Chipchase a praty towne and castle, hard on the easte
parte of the arme of Northe Tyne. " Sir Ralph Sadler,
in a letter to Secretary Cecil, says, "The most apte and
convenyent places for the keeper of Tindale to reside in
on all the frontiers are Hawgston, Langley, or Chipchase,
in one of which iij placis men of service have alwayes
been placed, and especially for the well executing of that
office of Tyndale." "The old tower," says Hodgson,
" still remains. Its roof is built on corbels, and has open-
ings through which to throw down stones or scalding
water upon an enemy. The grooves of the portcullis, the
porter's chamber above it, and tattered fragments of
Gothic painting on the walls, are exceedingly curious."
The following more detailed description is by the Rev.
C. H. Hawthorne, in his " Feudal and Military Antiqui-
ties":— "The pele, properly so called, is a massive and
lofty building as large as some Norman keeps. It has an
enriched appearance given to it by its double-notched
corbelling round the summit, which further serves the
purpose of machicolation. The round bartisans at the
angles add to its beauty, and are set in with considerable
skill. Over the low winding entrance door on the base-
ment are the remains of the original portcullis, the like
of which the most experienced archaeologist will in vain
seek for elsewhere. The grooves are also visible, and the
chamber where the machinery was fixed for raising it is
to be met with, even as at Goodrich, where the holes in
which the axle worked, and the oilway that served to ease
its revolutions, may be seen ; but at Chipchase there is
the little cross-grated portcullis itself, which was simply
lifted by the leverage of a wooden bar above the entrance,
and let down in the same manner. "
Chipchase was anciently a member of the manor of
Prudhoe ; and in the reign of King Henry II. it was the
property of Odonel de Umfraville, who gave the chapel
there to the Canons of Hexham, but the manor to his son
and heir, in whose family it remained for several genera-
tions. The Umfravilles, however, it would appear, had
only a little fort on the present site. Godwin, in his
"English Archaeologist's Guide," says the tower was
built by Peter de Insula about the year 1250. This
Peter is supposed to have been the ancestor of the Delisle
family, or at least of a sept of that name. It came after-
wards into the hands of a branch of the noble family of
the Herons of Ford Castle. One of those Herons, Sir
George, was slain in the Raid of the Redeswire ; another
was seven years High Sheriff in succession ; and to a third,
Cuthbert Heron, we owe the modern structure, it having
been built for him in 1621, as testified by the initials of
his name, C. H., cut in stone on each side of his coat of
arms, with the date, above the south entrance.
The last of the Chipchase Herons sold the estate to
George Allgood, Esq., who, in his turn, disposed of it
to a cadet of the Troughend family, John Reed, Esq.,
who was High Sheriff of Northumberland in 1732. At
this gentleman's decease, in 1754, the property was
inherited by his nephew, Christopher Soulsby, who
assumed the name of Reed, and married the eldest
daughter of Francis Blake, Esq., of Twizell. It after-
wards, in consequence of the failure of the Northum-
berland Bank, with which the Reeds were concerned,
came into the possession of Ralph William Grey, Esq.,
sometime member for Tynemoutb, and subsequently
(1861) passed into the .hands of Hugh Taylor, Esq.,
who represented the same borough for several years.
The Rev. George Rome Hall, F.S.A., contributed to
the Transactions of the Natural History Society in 1877
a "Memoir on the History and Architecture of Chip-
chase Castle," from which we take the following ex-
tracts : —
The name of Chipchase takes us back to ancient times,
when a village of Chipchase already existed on the south
side of the present park, close to the bridge that leads to
the mill and the ancient ford of the river. Scarcely a
vestige now remains of it, but we can trace the founda-
tions of two or three dwellings on each side of the hollow
track-way. The ancient village of Chipchase was, no
doubt, much earlier than the great pele-tower, and would
be occupied in Saxon times. Its name is derived directly
fron the Old -English word Cheap, a market; Anglo-
Saxon, ceapian, to buy ; cypan, to sell ; and cheap, price
or sale, which occur in Cheapside and East-Cheap, the
old market-places of London, and in the numerous
fihippings scattered throughout England, denoting
ancient market-places and early seats of commercial
activity.
The second part of the name of Chipchase comes from
the Norman-French chasse ; French chasser, to hunt,
signifying a place of hunting, ground abounding in game,
such as the various species of deer, the wild boar, bears,
wolves, and smaller objects of the chase. The "forest,"
like William the Conqueror's New Forest in Hampshire,
seems to have been the most extensive kind of huntintr
ground; next to this came the "chase," like Hatfield
Chase, in Yorkshire ; then the "hunt," like Cheshunt, in
Hertfordshire ; and last, and smallest of all, the enclosed
" park."
Thus the meaning of Chipchase is the "market " within
the "chase " or hunting-ground of the Lords of Prudhoe,
the great family of the Umfravilles, who held it as a de-
tached manor of that important barony when the light of
history first dawns upon Chipchase.
It might be thought that many traditions, super-
natural and otherwise, connected with the old historic
tower at Chipchase, ought to cluster around the grey
time-worn building, which bore the brunt of Border foray
the treasure she took so much pains to hide in her life-
time ; yet there is one legendary story at least connected
with the ruinous pele-tower, similar to that of the Mother
and Child of Chillingham Castle. It tells of an unfor-
tunate knight. Sir Reginald Fitz-Urse, who, being for-
gotten by the lord of the castle and his retainers,
perhaps intentionally, as was not uncommon in those
barbarous times, perished by starvation in one of the
dark prison-chambers of the great keep. For hundreds
of years, it is said, the ill-fated Sir Reginald has " re-
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1 1889
visited the glimpses of the moon," and the scenes of his
own miserable end ; revenging himself first on his cruel
captors, and then on their successors, by haunting the
old pele, where the startled passer-by may yet sometimes
hear the clang of armour mingled with groanings of a
dying man, issuing from its dreary recesses at the weird
midnight hour.
As with most of the ancient Border towers and abbeys,
there is here a popular tradition of an underground passage,
or secret mode of egress from the castle, which, in this
case, seems to be founded on fact. A low subterranean
way has been traced from the level of the present cellar
for a considerable distance southward, beneath the car-
riage drive at the front, and leading towards the site of
the ancient village of Chipchase. This is the traditional
direction which recent research has quite lately verified.
In case of siege (though the pele-tower is said to have
been twice besieged, but never taken), such a mode of
egress would be most desirable, and would certainly be re-
sorted to on extreme occasions.
It may be added that Edward I. (the greatest of the
Plantaeenets, perhaps of all our kings), on one of his
journeys into Scotland, is traditionally said to have
remained at Chipchase Castle for one or two nights. If
he did so, it must have been on his way northwards into
Scotland, on the same occasion as that on which he heard
mass at the head of the vale of North Tyne, above
Keilder, in the "Bell Chapel," which is now entirely
demolished.
The scene of the popular story of the "Long Pack"
is, by tradition, laid at Chipchase, although Lee Hall,
near Bellingham, is also supposed to have been the place
where the tragical incident happened which James
Hogg, the famous Ettrick Shepherd, took for the founda-
tion of his tale.
fff
'3Ttot>'t ftgttt attlf
ICtoceir.
proton $.p.,
VICAK OP NEWCASTLE, POET, AND MAN OP LETTERS.
Fanciful as was the genius of Warburton, it delighted
too much in its eccentric motions, and in its own solitary
greatness, amid abstract and recondite topics, to have
strongly attracted the public attention, had not a party
been formed around him, at the head of which stood the
active and subtle Hurd ; and amid the gradations of the
votive brotherhood, the profound Balguy, the spirited
Brown, ^till we descend,— "To his tame jackal, parson
Towne. " Isaac Disraeli : "Quarrels of Authors. "
JHE "spirited Brown" of the foregoing ex-
tract was one of the most celebrated, and at
the same time one of the most unfortunate,
of the many divines who have held the
chief cure of souls in Newcastle. He was born, in 1715,
at Bothbury, where his father (afterwards Vicar of
Wigton) was curate. He was educated at Wigton
public school, and in May, 1732, was sent to St. John's
College, Cambridge. After taking his bachelor's degree,
in 1735, he was ordained by the Bishop of Carlisle, and
four years later, obtaining his degree of M.A., was
admitted into priest's orders, and received a minor
canonry and lectureship in Carlisle Cathedral. Being
reproved for omitting to read the Athanasian Creed, he
threw up his preferment, and remained in comparative
obscurity till the rebellion of 1745. During the siege of
Carlisle, he acted as a volunteer, and when, a few months
later, some of the rebels were tried there, he preached
two notable sermons "On the Mutual Connection between
Religious Truth and Civil Freedom, and between
Superstition, Tyranny, Irreligion, and Licentiousness."
These discourses brought him under the notice of Dr.
Osbaldiston, who induced the Dean and Chapter to give
him the living of Moreland, in the adjoining county, and
in 1747, when Dr. Osbaldiston was raised to the see of
Carlisle, he made him one of his chaplains.
Mr. Brown had ventured into print in 1743 with a poem
on " Honour," which did not attract much notice ; but his
next effort, an "Essay on Satire, occasioned by the death
of Mr. Pope," drew the world of letters around him. The
essay "breathed the very soul of Pope," and gave so much
delight to Warburton, the literary colossus of his day,
that he prefixed it to the second volume of his edition of
Pope's Works. "Liberty, a Poem," followed, and added
to his reputation. Warburton, writing to Hurd (30th
January, 1749-50), says :—
Mr. Brown has fine parts ; he has a genius for poetry,
and has acquired a force of versification very uncommon.
I recommended to him a thing I once thought of myself
— it had been recommended to me by Mr. Pope — an
examination of all Lord Shaf tesbury says against religion.
Mr. Brown now is busy upon this work.
Warburton's suggestion bore fruit in "Essays on the
'Characteristics' of the Earl of Shaf tesbury "—a clear
and vivacious book, in which the author maintained the
impropriety of applying ridicule to the investigation of
religious truth, asserted the religious principle to be the
only uniform and permanent motive to virtue, and
defended the credibility of Gospel history and Scripture
March
I
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
123
miracles. The volume was issued by Bowyer in 1751, and
the following year his faithful friend Bishop Osbaldiston
presented him to the vicarage of Lazonby. There he
began to woo the muse afresh, and produced " Barbarossa,
a Tragedy," which was acted in London on the 17th
December, 1754. Garrick wrote both prologue and
epilogue, and spoke the prologue himself in the character
of a Cumberland chaw-bacon, supposed to be the author's
servant. In this play occur the oft-quoted lines : —
Now let us thank the Eternal Power ; convinced
Thai Heaven but tries our virtue by affliction, —
That oft the cloud which wraps the preflent hour
Serves but to brighten all our future days.
And in the prologue is the equally well known couplet,
put into the mouth of the Cumberland lad seeking his
master : —
He must be there among you — look about ;
A weezen, pale-faced man ; do find him out !
The play was a success, and with the plaudits of the
theatre ringing in his ears the author took his doctor's
degree, and wrote another tragedy — "Athelstan" —
which, however, waa not so successful. In 1757 appeared
his most famous work—" An Estimate of the Manners
and Principles of the Times. " It was a strong philippic
against national vices, and created a great clamour.
Cowper, in the "Table Talk,"says that it "rose like a
paper kite and charmed the town." Seven editions in
little more than a year marked the height of public
excitement, and testified to the power and genius of the
writer. A second volume followed, but failed to attract
the same amount of attention, and "An Explanatory
Defence of the Estimate," &c., which the author put
forth later, exhausted public interest in the subject.
Just before the publication of the " Estimate," through
the influence of Warburton, Lord Royston conferred
upon Dr. Brown the living of Great Horkesley, near
Colchester. Resigning his Cumberland preferments, he
took up his residence at Horkesley, and republished
Walker's "Narrative of the Siege of Londonderry, a
Useful Lesson to the Present Times." There, also, he
wrote a "Dialogue of the Dead, between Pericles and
Aristides, being a sequel to a Dialogue of Lord Lyttel-
ton's between Pericles and Cosmo," "The Curse of Saul
— a Sacred Ode," set to music, and performed as an
oratorio, and " A Dissertation on the Rise, Union, and
Power, the Progressions, Separations, and Corruptions of
Poetry and Music." His ministry at Horkesley was not
a long one. He managed to offend his patron, and to
create a coolness with Warburton, who, in the meantime,
had been consecrated Bishop of Gloucester. While
matters were in a state of tension, on the first of June,
1760, tKe Rev. Thos. Turnor, vicar of Newcastle, died,
and his good friend the Bishop of Carlisle placed the
living at Dr. Brown's disposal. Soured by his troubles
at Horkesley, disappointed at receiving no higher reward
from the Whig party, whose faithful servant he had
been, he hesitated about accepting the offer. It was not
until after six months of vacillation that he finally made
up his mind, and it was not until the 7th of January,
1761, that he was formally inducted at St. Nicholas' by
the Rev. Mr. Dockwray, and entered into residence as
vicar of the chief town in his native county.
Local history has little to tell about Dr. Brown's career
in Newcastle. He was absorbed in literary pursuits, and
took but faint interest in public life and work. He had
hoped for better things, and was, therefore, a discon-
tented, reserved, and, at times, a melancholy man. His
only diversion was music, and he certainly tried to assist
his friend Charles Avison — whose essay on " Musical
Expression " he had probably prepared for the press —
in raising the standard of musical taste in the town.
Adding a room to the old vicarage, he and Avison started
a series of Sunday evening concerts there, which Dr.
Rotherham, Ralph Eeilby, Mrs. Ord of Fenham, and
other amateurs helped to make popular and useful.
Baillie, the Nonconformist historian of Newcastle,
states that Dr. Brown was " passionately fond of music,"
and a "very considerable master in that enchanting
science." But to all his acquirements were joined
"uncommon pride and weakness." "He was a High
Churchman, and, of consequence, intolerant to Dis-
senters, and rigorous in the exaction of his dues.
Though aspiring to a mitre, yet could he not avoid
treating his inferiors with contempt, and his superiors
with insolence." William Hilton, a local poet ("Works,"
vol. i., 218), defending the doctor from some public
lampoon, declared, on the other hand, that —
Approv'd, his early numbers rose,
All own his pure, his nervous prose ;
All own the heighth his sense can reach ;
All own how justly he can preach.
Even some who prize not truth or song
Have felt the magic of his tongue.
Dr. Brown published in Newcastle the following
works : — " The History of the Rise and Progress of
Poetry through its Several Species," being the portion
relating to poetry in the "Dissertation" previously
quoted (J. White and T. Saint, 1764); "Thoughts on
Civil Liberty, on Licentiousness, and Faction " (White
and Saint, 1765); a sermon "On the Natural Duty of
a Personal Service in Defence of Ourselves and Country,"
preached at St. Nicholas' on the occasion of a riot at
Hexham (I. Thompson, 1761), and another " On Female
Character and Education," preached before the guardians
of the Asylum for deserted female Orphans, May 16,
1765; "Twelve Sermons on Various Subjects" (White
and Saint, 1764); and a "Letter to Dr. Lowth" in reply
to an attack which Lowth had made upon him as a
creature and sycophantic admirer of Warburton. In
these latter works he announced the intended publication
of "Principles of Christian Legislation, in Eight Books,
being an Analysis of the Various Religions, Manners, and
Politics of Mankind, &c., the Obstructions thence arising
to the General Progress and Proper Effects of Christi-
124
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
f March
I 1889.
anity, and the Most Practicable Remedies to these
Obstructions " ; but this design, though begun, was never
realised.
The closing scene of his life ill corresponded with its
brilliant beginning. Dr. Dumaresque, a former chaplain
to the English factory at St. Petersburg, had been asked
by the Empress of Russia to assist in preparing regula-
tions for some schools she was about to establish, and he,
hearing through a friend in England that Dr. Brown was
a proper person to consult, wrote to him on the subjectt
and the correspondence being communicated to the Prime
Minister at St. Petersburg, led to an invitation for Dr.
Brown to join the ex-chaplain on the banks of the Neva_
The doctor accepted, and receiving an answer from the
Minister signifying that the Empress was greatly pleased
with his decision, and had sent £1,000 to defray the ex-
penses of his journey, he prepared for his departure^
He left Newcastle in high spirits, made all his arrange-
ments in London, and was on the eve of embarkation,
when he fell ill with a sharp attack of rheumatic gout — a
disorder to which he had been frequently subject.
Whether it was this illness, as some have asserted, or
whether it was a polite intimation that his services
were not required, that prevented the fulfilment of
his intentions, may never be accurately known. In
either case his disappointment was intense. He
fell into one of those melancholy moods which had
so often afflicted him, and could not rally.
Bequeathing the property in his books and MSS.
to the Rev. William Hall, M.A., of Newcastle, and
arming his right hand with a razor, at his lodgings in Pall
Mall, September 23, 1766, he terminated his existence.
Our portrait of Dr. Brown is copied, by permission of
Canon Lloyd, from an oil painting in St. Nicholas'
vestry, placed there probably by the doctor's executors
—the Rev. Nathaniel Clayton and Mr. George Ord.
Lancelot proton,
LANDSCAPE GAKDEXER AND ARCHITECT.
Him too, the living leader of thy pow'rs.
Great Nature ! Him the Muse shall hail in notes
Which antedate the praise true Genius claims
From just posterity. Bards yet unborn
Shall pay to BROWN that tribute, fitliest paid
In strains the beauty his own scenes inspire.
Mason's "English Garden."
Lancelot Brown, the most eminent landscape gardener
of his day, who, from his constant use of the phrase " this
spot has great capabilities," became known as "Capa-
bility Brown," was a native of Northumberland. He
was descended from the Browns of Ravenscleugh, near
EUdon, and was born at Kirkharle, the ancestral home
of the Loraine family, where he was baptised on the 30th
of August, 1716. At Cambo School he received the
rudiments of his education, and while yet a boy, develop-
ing a taste for gardening, he was taken into the employ-
ment of Sir William Loraine, who, at the time, was
making extensive improvements in the surroundings of
his mansion. From Kirkharle he went to Benwell, as
gardener to Mr. Robert Shafto, and in 1739, or soon
after, he entered the service of Lord Cobham, as one of
the gardeners at his princely residence of Stowe, near
Buckingham. There he had the opportunity of studying
the improvements that, just before, had been effected by
William Kent, painter, sculptor, and architect, and there
it was that he married, and commenced his career as an
artist gardener, architectural designer, and improver of
pleasure grounds.
Upon the death of Lord Cobham, in 1749, Mr Brown
settled at Hammersmith, and became the oracle of taste
in all matters relating to his profession. The owners of
ancestral piles, and the possessors of wide-spreading
estates, sought his advice and carried out his plans o
improvement. Under his supervision some of the great
houses of the kingdom were renovated, or rebuilt, with
tasteful regard to comfort and convenience, and their
environments of wood and water, garden and pasture,
were thoroughly transformed. Straight walks and sullen
ditches gave place to winding ways and glittering
cascades ; rectangular flower plots and clipped arcades
were replaced by stately terraces and undulating
shrubberies ; everywhere that which had been common-
place and formal was supplanted by something novel,
something unexpected. His reputation brought him
under the notice of George II., who, although no
special friend of art in any shape— for he liked neither
"boetry"nor "bainting" — had sufficient taste to recog-
nise the improvements which " Capability Brown " was
effecting, and made him his head gardener, with a resi-
March I
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
125
dence at Hampton Court. This post, being one of honour
rather than of servitude, did not require the holder to
curtail his professional work, and he continued to plan,
deyise, and superintend extensive schemes of building and
planting as before. For thirty years he reigned supreme
as the arbiter of fashion in landscape gardening, and,
adding to genius graceful manners and good sense, was
honoured and trusted, admitted to confidence and
friendship by men of distinction in the highest ranks of
society.
Like every other innovator, Mr. Brown had to face
criticism and to suffer reproach. Old-fashioned people
saw with regret the trim Dutch gardening to which they
had been accustomed ruthlessly replaced by clumps and
belts and mazy walks, and they shook their venerable
heads at the reckless expense which seemed to be
involved in the change. Cowper expressed the feelings
of many others when, in the third book of the "Task,"
he thus satirised the all-powerful gardener :—
Improvement too, the idol of the age,
Is fed with many a victim. Lo ! he comes —
The omnipotent magician, Brown, appears.
Down falls the venerable pile, the abode
Of our forefathers, a grave whiskerd race,
But tasteless. Springs a palace in its stead.
He speaks. The lake in front becomes a lawn,
Woods vanish, hills subside, and valleys rise,
And streams, as if created for his use.
Pursue the track of his directing wand,
Sinuous or straight, now rapid and now slow,
Now murmuring soft, now roaring in cascades,
E'en as he bids. Th' enraptured owner smiles.
Tis finish'd ! and yet, finish'd as it seems.
Still wants a grace, the loveliest it could show,
A mine to satisfy th' enormous cost.
Against Cowper's detraction may be set an anecdote
related to the Rev. John Hodgson by one of Mr. Brown's
disciples : —
A young nobleman sent for him to give him a plan for
improving the scenery about his house. After noticing
that his employer had a numerous family, for whom he
showed great affection, and walking with him over his
grounds, he observed, " My lord, your place has high
capabilities, but your lordship must pardon me for saying
that I cannot promise to effect as much as is wished,
without requiring a sum which I am sure, from the
great parental affection your children have bestowed
upon them, your lordship on their account will not be
inclined to expend." The hint was received with kind-
ness and gratitude, and Mr. Brown went away unem-
ployed.
Lord Orford, in the supplement to " Pilkington's
Dictionary," describes Mr. Brown as the " restorer of
the science of architecture," the "father of modern
gardening," and "the inventor of an art that realises
painting and improves Nature." Repton states that
Brown's fame as an architect was eclipsed by his cele-
brity as a landscape gardener, and that " if he was
superior to all in what related to his own peculiar
profession, he was inferior to none in what related to
the comfort, convenience, taste, and propriety of design
in the several mansions and other buildings which he
planned." Nearer home, Hodgson, describing Kirk-
harle in his " History of Northumberland," adds : —
" The situation is low, and shaded by a hill to the
south ; but the magic hand of Brown contrived to
throw the sweetest charms into the fields of the place
of his nativity, and to convert the landscape around
the mansion of their lord into a woody theatre of
stateliest view."
Mr. Brown was appointed High Sheriff for the
counties of Huntingdon and Cambridge in 1770, and
filled the office with dignity and credit. His friend-
ship with the noblemen who had employed him in
renovating their family houses and country seats con-
tinued till his death. One evening in 1783, as he was
returning from an evening party at Lord Coventry's,
he fell in the street, and died. Lord Coventry raised
a monument to his memory at Croome, and Mason, the
poet, wrote his epitaph, with this ending : —
But know that more than Genius slumbers here,
Virtues were his which Art's best pow'rs transcend ;
Come, ye superior train, who these revere,
And weep the Christian, Husband, Father, Friend.
Jttidjael
FINE AKT CONNOISSEUR AND AUTHOR.
Michael Bryan, an eminent dealer in pictures, and the
compiler of a well-known dictionary of painters and
engravers, was born in Newcastle on the 9th April,
1757, and received his education at the Royal Free
Grammar School, under its great head-master, the Rev.
Hugh Moises. Arrived at man's estate, he went to
London, and devoted himself to the study of the fine
arts. In pursuit of this object he accompanied one of
his brothers to Flanders, where he met the Hon. Juliana
Talbot, one of the numerous siiters of Charles, sixteenth
Earl of Shrewsbury, to whom, on the 7th June, 1784, he
was united in marriage.
Mr. Byran resided in Flanders till 1790, and spent
most of his time in visiting and studying the masterpieces
of art which were somewhat profusely scattered among
the chief towns of that province. Returning to England,
he settled in London, paying occasional visits to his
native town, it would appear, for Thomas Bewick, in bis
autobiography, mentions that, when he was preparing
his "History of British Birds," Mr. Bryan lent him a
book of Button's to read. But his fervid admiration of
art soon sent him back to the Continent. Being in
Holland when an order came from the French Govern-
ment to stop all the English residents, he was detained at
Rotterdam. While there, he made the acquaintance of
M. L'Abord, who, a little later, negotiated through his
influence a sale of the Italian portion of what was known
as the Orleans collection of pictures to the Duke of
Bridgewater, Lord Gower, and the Earl of Carlisle, for
£43,500. Eneas Mackenzie, in his "History of New-
castle, " states that "his judgment of pictures was of the
126
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
(March
1889.
first order, bis information extensive, and his enthusiasm
for the sublime and beautiful in works of art of boundless
fervour. His opinion was consequently looked up to as
decisive of the merit or demerit of paintings, whether
derived from the ancient masters or from the easels of
modern genius."
Through the influence of the Duke of Bridgewater
Mr. Bryan was sent to Paris in 1801, by royal authority,
to buy such pictures from the cabinet of a celebrated
collector, M. Robit, as he should consider worthy to be
brought into England. Amongst his purchases on this
MICHAEL BRYAN.
occasion were two well-known pictures by Murillo—
"The Infant Jesus as the Good Shepherd," and "The
Infant St. John with a Lamb." Three years later he
left the metropolis, and, as was supposed, finally settled
down with a brother in Yorkshire. But the fine art fever
again claimed him, and in 1812 he went back to London
and resumed his place in the world of pictures. This
time he launched out into literature, and, between 1813
and 1816, published in two volumes quarto, the
" Biographical and Critical Dictionary of Painters and
Engravers" with which it is identified. Soon after it
was completed Mr. Bryan entered into a fine art specula-
tion which proved disastrous, and threw a cloud over the
sunset of his life. He died at his house in Portman
Place, London, from an attack of paralysis, on the 28th of
March, 1821.
SCHOOLMASTER.
At the beginning of the century, few places were
better supplied than Newcastle with private schools for
the education of the middle and lower sections of the
community. At the Barras Bridge the Rev. William
Turner, and in Pilgrim Street the Rev. Edward Prowitt,
had flourishing boarding-schools for boys ; in Saville Row,
in Westgate Street, and in Pilgrim Street, again, were
half a dozen for girls ; while of day schools for boys
(taught by men with the familiar names of Tinwell,
Somerville, Askew, Murray, &c.), there were a score, and
for girls about half that number. Thirty-six private
academies in Newcastle, besides the Royal Free Gram-
mar School and the charity schools of the various
parishes, at a time when the population of the town was
little over 28,000, testify to the earnestness of our fore-
fathers in the matter of education.
Adding to the number of teachers, and increasing the
efficiency of the instruction given, there came to New-
castle from Alnwick two young men — Edward and John,
sons of Edward Bruce, of that town, mason. As youths,
they had taught a school at the foot of Pottergate, not
far from the paternal home, where one of their pupils
was a boy who afterwards became a famous Methodist
Reformer and antiquary — the Rev. James Everett.
But Newcastle offered a wider field for enterprise, and
in the year 1793, when Edward was nineteen and John
eighteen years of age, they migrated from the banks of
the Aln to the shores of the Tyne. So far as can be
learned, they engaged themselves chiefly in private
tuition — giving lessons at the great houses in the neigh-
bourhood. Gradually they made friends among the local
gentry, and were employed by such well known families
as those of Bigge, Ibbetson, Collingwood, Rowe, and
Ingham. When a sufficient connection had been formed,
they opened a school at West House, Byker.
Under the Act of Uniformity every schoolmaster who
was not a member of the Church of England was re-
quired to take the oath of allegiance. Edward, being the
elder brother, made the usual declarations, and received
the customary permit ; John devoted himself more
particularly to the out-door connection, and taught in
schools and families. In one of the schools which the
latter attended — that of Mrs. Wilson, in Saville Place
(now the home of the Young Women's Christian Associa-
tion)—he found a wife. The object of his affections was
Mary, daughter of Mr. John Jack, of Golden Square,
London, to whom he was united at St. Andrew's Church,
on the 14th of June, 1804. The marriage proved to be a
happy one in every respect. Amiable and clever, Mrs.
Bruce was admirably fitted to be a helpmate to an
earnest and accomplished man. The pair settled down in
Newcastle with bright prospects, for John Brace's in-
dustry and enterprise had already procured for him the
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
127
respect and approval of prominent people in the town,
who were able and willing to render him good service.
He had become a member of the Newcastle Loyal
Associated Volunteer Infantry, and was learning to serve
his country at an important crisis ; he was a frequent con-
tributor to the Gentlemen's and Ladies' Diaries, and was
gaining reputation as a skilled mathematician at a time
when martial ardour gave additional interest and value to
mathematical studies.
When John Bruce had been married a couple of
years, his brother Edward died, and he proceeded to
carry out an idea which he had long cherished. He
determined to expand his school into an establishment
which should provide for sons of the local gentry and
commercial community of Tyneside an education ap-
proaching to that which was given at Winchester and
Eton, Westminster and Harrow. Mrs. Bruce entered
heartily into the project, and on the 18th of June, 1806,
a circular was issued announcing the commencement of
a new Academy in Newcastle, in " that large and airy
house in Percy Street, at present occupied by Mr.
Fish wick."
Mr. Bruce, although, so to speak, a born school-
master, united to skill in teaching an uncommon capa-
bility for business. While, therefore, happy tact and
gentle firmness secured the goodwill of the pupils, dili-
gence and punctuality won the confidence of parents.
In no great while Brace's School became one of the
best known, because one of the most successful, educa-
tional institutions in the town. There " county people, "
wealthy merchants, and successful tradesmen placed
their sons, and there the lads received an education
which fitted them for college, the Quayside, or the
counter. Among them, at Midsummer, 1815, George
Stephenson, engineman at Killingworth Colliery, placed
his son Robert, then about twelve years old, and in
after life the great engineer was accustomed to say
that to Mr. Bruce's tuition and methods of modelling
the mind he owed much of his success, for from him
he derived his taste for mathematical pursuits, and the
faculty of applying it to practical purposes.
Not only was Mr. Bruce a skilful teacher and sound
man of business. He had another quality which helped
his fortunes. He was an educational enthusiast. About
the time that Percy Street Academy began to prosper,
public interest in the matter of popular education was
riding upon the crest of a long and wide-rolling wave,
which (if the simile will bear it) Lancaster and Bell may
be said to have set in motion. Every movement which
tended to reduce intc practical shape the crusade against
ignorance had his earnest support. When, as a mark of
gratitude and loyalty, it was determined to commemorate
the fiftieth year of the reign of George III. in Newcastle
by providing for the unsectarian instruction of " the
lower orders of youth, " he acted as co-secretary with the
Rev. William Turner in the arrangements out of which
the Royal Jubilee School reared its massive pediment
above the New Road. He officiated in the same capacity
to the committee of management of the school, sub-
scribed to its funds, and in the second year of its existence
made the handsome proposal to admit into his academy
for twelve months the boy who most distinguished
himself in the school each year— showing thereby that
his zeal in the cause of intellectual progress was of
that practical sort which involves sacrifice. Another
educational institution with which he identified himself
was the Literary and Philosophical Society, then in the
height of its fame and usefulness. He read few papers,
and delivered no lectures, but he was an active member
of the committee, and by his experience of teaching, and
his knowledge of books, helped to make the institution
the centre of intellectual life in Newcastle. In con-
junction with his brother, he wrote an admirable school-
book, entitled "An Introduction to Geography and
Astronomy, by the Use of Globes and Maps ; to which
are added, the Construction of Maps, and a Table of
Latitudes and Longitudes." Other publications of his
were an "Historical and Biographical Atlas," and a
life of his friend Dr. Charles Button. If time had per-
mitted, he would probably have made other contribu-
tions to local literature ; but, devoted to his profession,
Mr. Bruce rarely sought change or relaxation outside
the special work which fell within its scope. He became
a member of the Society of Antiquaries, but took no
prominent part in its management or in its deliberations.
He was an elder of Clavering Place Chapel, but abstained
from participation in the religious controversies of the
time. Although an ardent advocate of the abolition of
slavery in the West Indies, he kept aloof from political
128
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
fMarch
conflict. To educate youth was his mission ; to that
object he devoted all bis time azd all his energies.
Mr. Bruce died on the 31st October, 1334, at the age of
59, and was buried in the Nonconformist cemetery at the
top of Westgate Hill, which, a year or two before, he had
helped to establish, and of which he was a trustee. The
Newcastle Chronicle of the 8th November following paid
this striking tribute to his genius, his piety, and his
success:—
The deceased possessed an enlarged and cultivated
understanding, and had the comparatively rare faculty
of communicating every variety of learning to every
variety of intellect, in a manner which at once secured
the respect and affection of the pupil ; and so eminently
successful has he been as a public instructor, that a
considerable portion of those persons who are now filling
influential and respectable situations in this district of
the country have been his pupils, and acknowledge with
gratitude their obligations to their departed preceptor.
In private life he was eminently distinguished for the
sincerity and constancy of his friendships, and for the
exhibition of those charities which adorn and sweeten the
family circle ; and whether we contemplate him in the
character of a husband, a lather, or a master, he affords
an example which few reach, but which it is desirable
all should follow.
A few days after his interment j. public meeting of
friends and pupils was held in Newcastle, at which it
was resolved to perpetuate his memory by the erection
of a monument, which should "express the loss society
has sustained by his death, and stimulate posterity to
follow his bright example." Upon the committee
appointed to carry the resolution into effect were such
well-known men as the Revs. William Hawks, James
Pringle, Richard Pengilly, and James Everett, Dr.
Wightman, Messrs. Thomas and James Annandale,
Thomas Cargill, R. R. Dees, John Fenwick, James
Finlay, William Kell, William Nesharu,
and Joseph Watson. Their delibera-
tions ended in the beautiful monument
which, from a commanding position in
Westgate Hill Cemetery, overlooks the
eastern end of Elswick Road, and re-
cords the successful labours of a man
who, "possessing an unquenchable
ardour in the pursuit of knowledge,
stored his capacious mind with the
learning which could expand the in-
tellect, invigorate the character, and
promote the happiness of mankind,"
enjoyed " the satisfaction of seeing
many of his pupils occupying dignified
stations in the professional and com-
mercial sections of the community."
The fame of Percy Street Academy
was upheld and widely expanded for
nearly a half century after Mr. Brace's
death by his illustrious son and suc-
cessor, now the venerable Dr. John
Collingwood Bruce, historian of the
Roman Wall, fellow of various learned
societies, and promoter of innumerable schemes of phil-
anthropy and benevolence. No small portion of the
father's genius fell also upon a younger son, George
Barclay Bruce, who, having learned the profession of
an engineer under Robert Stephenson, and filled high
positions among great undertakings, has recently re-
ceived the honour of knighthood.
ISUa <Tam.
|i 1 1 ERE are three mountain lakxlets of this name
in the English Lake District. One is at the
head of the Watendlath valley, and another is
in Patterdale ; but it is that which nestles in a deep rocky
hollow at the head of Little Langdale to which attention
is now drawn. It is the Blea Tarn par excellence — the
others being in no way comparable to it either for scenery
or poetic associations. The name i« derived from "blaae, "
a Danish word meaning blue ; or the Swedish word "bla,"
having the same signification. The view from the road
looking towards great Langdale, is most impressive, the
Langdale Pikes forming a background hardly excelled in
any other part of England. The highest peak is known
as Harrison Stickle, next is the Pike o' Stickle, whilst
the small cone to the left of the mountain group is the
Gimmer Crag, having an almost unbroken descent of
over 2,000 feet. The immediate surroundings of Blea
Tarn were formerly destitute of foliage. This would
seem to have been the condition of the district even as
late as the time of Wordsworth. Now, however, a num-
ber of larches are flourishing near the tarn, and on the
BLEA TARN.
March 1
1889. f
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
hill side, near a small farmhouse, are tnany trees, though
somewhat stunted in growth. The house is certainly in a
desolate spot. How the dwellers therein fare in the
depth of winter can only be imagined. Wordsworth
looked at the scene with a poet's eye, and selected it as
the home of the Solitary in his " Excursion." His stand-
point—not the same as that selected by the photographer
of the accompanying view, Mr. Alfred Pettitt, of Keswick
— is supposed to have been on a ridge to the north of the
road. It is known as "Wordsworth's seat," and is
pointed out to visitors by the farmer who occupies the
cottage. The view hence is scarcely less striking than
that depicted in our engraving, including, as it does, a
fine prospect of Bow Fell, and its frowning neighbours —
that is providing the weather be propitious, which is not
always the case in these higher latitudes, as the traveller
often finds to his cost. The tarn itself presents no feature
of interest. It is a still, solemn pool of oval shape, which
has been described as " reflecting nothing but crags and
clouds by day, and crags and stars by night." Here is
Wordsworth's description of the scene in the "Excur-
sion " : —
Behold !
Beneath our feet a little lowly vale,
A lowly vale, and yet uplighted high
Among the mountains ; even as if the spot
Had been, from earliest time, by wish of theirs,
So placed, to be shut out from all the world.
Urn-like it was in shape, deep as an urn ;
With rocks encompassed, save that co the south
Was one small opening, where a heath-clad ridge
Supplies a boundary less abrupt and close ;
A quiet, treeless nook, with two green fields,
A liquid pool that glittered in the sun.
And one bare Dwelling ; one Abode, no more !
It seemed the home of poverty and toil,
Though not of want : the little fields, made green
By husbandry of many thrifty years,
Paid cheerful tribute to the moorland house.
— There crows the cock, single in his domain :
The small birds find in spring no thicket there
To shroud them, only from the neighbouring vales
The cuckoo, straggling up to the hill tops,
Shouted faint tidings of some gladder place.
jjNE of our best, earliest, and most persistent
songsters, the skylark (Alauda afvensis}, is
almost as great a favourite of poets and
naturalists as the nightingale. It commences to sing
quite early in the season, and can be heard in late
autumn, when other birds are mute, and when the
migrants have departed for the South. Some years ago I
heard a lark in song at half -past one o'clock on a fine
moonlight summer's morning, fully an hour before the
song thrushes and blackbirds commenced to tune up.
Unlike many of our favourite birds, the lark has but
few common names. In England it is known as the lark
and skylark ; in Scotland it is the laverock of the common
people and the poets. Scottish schoolboys propound a
kind of "guess," or conundrum, as to the dual names of
the lark, cuckoo, and snipe, thus : —
The cuckoo and the gowk, the laverock and the lark
that? mire-snipe, how many birds is
Although six names are given, only three birds are indi-
cated— cuckoo, lark, and snipe.
The lark is a resident, or rather partial resident, in the
Northern Counties. When severe weather sets in, many
of them retreat southwards, and their places are occupied
by birds of the same species from more Northern locali-
ties, or from the Scandinavian countries on the other side
of the North Sea.
The bird is a native of the whole of Europe. It does
not seem to penetrate as far north as the Faroe Islands,
Iceland, and Greenland, but it is found in Asia Minor
and North Africa. In winter, the migratory larks are
snared in vast numbers along the North, North-East, and
East Coasts, as also inland, and in the large towns they
are sold by thousands for the wretched mouthful of food
they furnish. Some time ago a large poultry and game
dealer informed me that the bulk of his winter lark sup-
plies were from the Yorkshire, West Lancashire, and
Lincolnshire coasts, though both Northumberland and
Durham contributed no small quota of slaughtered song-
sters to tickle the palates of epicures. Many thousands
also come from Ireland and the Continent.
The "manners and customs" of the skylark, with its
finely brownish-mottled plumage, are well known to most
country residents, and its song in summer's prime is a
"joy for ever." Mr. Duncan's drawing is a most life-like
representation. In early spring the birds separate into
pairs, and are soon looking out for suitable nesting places
in the meadows and pastures. Two broods are usually
reared in the year — the first about the middle of June, or
earlier if the weather be favourable ; the second brood in
late July or August. The male is rather larger and
longer than the female, and is distinguished from its mate
by the well-known crest on the top of the head, which is
raised and depressed at will. As most schoolboys know.
130
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
(March
the simple nest — not, however, so easily discovered — is
placed in a hollow of the ground, usually in a, grass field,
and on the moorlands amidst the tawny bent grass. The
nest is composed of dry grasses, the finer inside, the
coarser outside. The eggs, usually four in number, vary
much in form, size, and markings. Some, especially in
the rich lowlands, are of a greyish white colour, with a
tinge of purple, freckled all over with brownish spots, the
darker colour being mostly concentrated at the larger
end ; but in moorland districts they are almost invariably
dark-coloured, and marked very like those of the meadow
pipit, which, like the lark, nests amidst the dry bent
grass.
Skylarks manifest great attachment to their nests and
young, and, when incubation is in full swing, the hen
will almost allow herself to be lifted from the nest rather
than fly off. The bird never rises from or descends on to
its nest. When the nest is found, there may generally be
seen a narrow beaten track, extending often a good way
from it, by which the birds leave and return.
Professor Wilson (genial Christopher North) gives the
subjoined delicious word picture of the skylark and its
associations: — "Higher and higher than ever rose the
tower of Belus, soars and sings the lark, the lyrical poet
of the sky. Listen, listen ! and the more remote the
bird, the louder is his hymn in heaven. He seems, in his
loftiness, to have left the earth for ever, and to have for-
gotten his lowly nest. The primroses and the daisies,
and all the sweet hill flowers, must be remembered in the
lofty hill region of light. But just as the lark is lost— he
and his song together — both are again seen and heard
wavering down the sky, and in a little while he is walk-
ing, contented, along the furrows of the braided corn, or
on the clover lea that has not felt the ploughshare for
half a century." HENRY KERB.
jIFTER the failure of the Roman Republic
JfOTM of 1849, in whose service he had performed
prodigies of valour, General Garibaldi betook
himself to America, where he worked as a
journeyman for some time in the candle manufactory of
Signor Meucci, at Staten Island. He afterwards joined a
few of his countrymen and went to Panama. Five or six
times he crossed the isthmus between the Atlantic and
the Pacific, but found nothing to do. Then he departed
for Lima, where he got the command of a vessel, in which
he made some voyages — to Hong Kong, the Sandwich
Islands, and to Australia, and then round from Val-
paraiso to Baltimore, where he obtained the command of
another ship, the Commonwealth, a fine American clipper
vessel of above one thousand tons burthen, carrying the
American flag, and registered in New York, but owned
by Italians. In this ship he sailed for Burope in the
month of February, 1854, and in the course of the voyage
he put into Shields Harbour, where the Commonwealth
lay moored for a considerable time, taking in a cargo of
coals for Genoa.
Garibaldi having declined any public demonstration —
for, like all heroes, he was as modest as he was brave — it
was resolved, at a meeting held in the Lecture Room,
Newcastle, on Tuesday, March 28th, to present him with
an address of welcome and sympathy, accompanied with
a sword and telescope, to be purchased by a penny
subscription. The proposal, when made public, was re-
ceived with great enthusiasm, demands for subscription
lists coming from all parts of Tyneside. The presentation
took place on board the Commonwealth, at Shields, on
Tuesday, April llth, the day before she sailed. The fol-
lowing gentlemen attended as a deputation : — From New-
castle, Thomas Pringle, Martin Jude, Joseph Cowen,
jun., James Watson, James Charlton, John Kane, Josiah
Thomas, Angus McLeod, William Newton, William
Hedley ; from South Shields, Soloman Sutherland,
Robert Miller ; from North Shields, Robert Sutherland,
Thomas Hudson ; from London, G. Julian Harney ; also
Constantine Lewkaski, Polish exile. Mr. Pearson, the
general's broker, likewise accompanied the deputation.
The sword was a handsome weapon, with a gold hilt, on
which this inscription was engraved: — "Presented to
General Garibaldi by the people of Tyneside, friends of
European Freedom. Newcastle-on-Tyne, April, 1854."
The telescope — made by Mr. Joseph English, Grey
Street, Newcastle — bore the same inscription.
The deputation being introduced by Mr. Joseph Cowen,
jun., that gentleman said : —
General, — We are herea deputation appointed by a meet-
ing of the friends of European Freedom in Newcastle, to
express to you the gratification we have experienced at see-
ing you amongst us, and to assure you of our profound sym-
pathy for that noble cause with which you have cast the
fortunes of your life. It is as distasteful for us to indulge
in any complimentary ajxjlogies as I am sure it is for you
to listen to them, yet we feel it necessary to offer a word
or two in explanation of our proceedings. As soon as it
became known that you were to visit the Tyne, an
unanimous and enthusiastic desire was expressed by those
who sympathised with the heroic struggles of your
countrymen for their nationality and independence, to
give you a welcome worthy of your great and well-won
reputation as a soldier of freedom, and befitting this
important district to offer. Your modesty would not
permit you to accept such a demonstration. We could
well understand your personal dislike to such a display,
yet we would have rejoiced at having had such an oppor-
tunity as the occasion would have afforded of urging our
Government to regard the insurgent peoples, and not the
absolutist and reactionary potentates of Europe, as theii
most legitimate and faithful allies in the coming conflict,
and of demonstrating to these said sovereigns the little
regard entertained by Englishmen for their characters and
calling ; yet we felt that in such a matter you were first
and alone to be consulted, and at your request the propo-
sition was abandoned. But, being unwilling to permit you
to leave without some memorial of your visit, we have
chosen this private and more acceptable, but we trust no
less significant, mode of expressing to you the deep and
earnest sympathy entertained by the people of Tyneside
for your country and cause.
March!
1889. I
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
I
Mr. Cowen then read the following address :—
General, — Your presence in Newcastle affords an occa-
sion for a pleasure and a duty. It is indeed a pleasure for
us to welcome to our town the glorious defender of the
Eternal City, the Italian patriot and hero, the friend and
worthy helpmate of Mazzini in the holy work of Italian
emancipation. We do welcome you right heartily. And
in offering you with this welcome, the assurance of our
most profound respect, we do not pretend to be conferring
any honour upon you. The hero always honours the
place of his sojourn. Neither do we care, by any enumer-
ation of your gallant deeds, to justify our estimate of your
worth. Your life and character are well known to
Europe, and the mere name of Garibaldi is sufficient
passport to the admiration of his contemporaries and the
undying praise of history. Your example may also keep
us in mind of our duty, the never-ceasing duty of at least
encouraging by sympathetic words, if we cannot help by
deeds, all who, like yourself and your compatriots, are
ably engaged in the struggle for the Right. We pray
you to believe that the heart of England is with your
Italy. We, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, may take upon us
to say so much. Whatever bargains may be made by
Cabinets, whatever may be the unhappy complications of
diplomacy, whatever may be our popular ignorance of
foreign affairs, the people of England can never willingly
be a party to any policy which would sacrifice the Italian
nation to imperial or kingly interests. We would not so
give the lie to our own worship of freedom. You, ( Jeneral,
have not to be told that even a people which is free from
foreign mastery may yet not be so much its own master
as to always rule its course in the way its feelings and its
conscience point. Yet be sure of this : England hopes
for Italian independence. England may yet help it,
when our hope ripens into earnest will. And when they
who drive out the Austrian build up again a Republican
capital upon the Seven Hills, the heirs of Milton and
Cromwell will not be the last to say, even from their
deepest heart, God speed your work !
After reading the address, Mr. Cowen went on to say :
General, — Along with this address I have tn ask you to
receive this sword and this telescope. The intrinsic
value of these articles is but small, and to a Republican
chieftain who is accustomed to animate his compatriots
by deeds of personal prowess such a sword my be more
ornamental than useful. But when I tell you that it is
purchased by the pennies of some hundreds of working
men, contributed not only voluntarily, but with enthusi-
asm, and that each penny reprepresents a heart which beats
true to European freedom, it will not, 1 think, be un-
worthy of your acceptance and preservation. We are not
versed in the polite phraseology of diplomacy ; of the
refined conventionalisms of courts we are ignorant ; re-
presentatives of the people, we have no costly presents to
offer for your acceptance ; but with that simplicity which
best befits Republicans, we ask you to receive as a token
of our esteem the articles before us.
Garibaldi, who was much moved by this spontaneous
expression of good-will, replied as follows :—
Getitlfcinen, — I am very weak in the English language,
and can but imperfectly express my acknowledgments for
your over great kindness. You honour me beyond my
deserts. My services are not worthy of all the favours
you have shown me. You more than reward me for any
sacrifices I may have made in the cause of freedom. One
of the people — a workman like yourself — I value very
highly these expressions of your esteem — the more so
because you testify thereby your sympathy for my poor,
oppressed, and down-trodden country. Speaking in a
strange tongue, I feel most painfully my inability to thank
you in terms sufficiently warm. The future will alone
show how soon it will be before I am called on to un-
sheath the noble gift I have just received, and again
battle in behalf of that which lies nearest my heart — the
freedom of my native land. But be sure of this — Italy
will one day be a nation, and its free citizens will know
how to acknowledge all the kindness shown her exiled sons
in the days of their darkest troubles. Gentlemen, I
would say more, but my bad English prevents me Yon
can appreciate my feelings and understand my hesitation
Again I thank you from my heart of hearts, and be con-
fident of this— that whatever vicissitudes of fortune I may
hereafter pass through, this handsome sword shall never
3 drawn by me except in the cause of liberty.
An interesting conversation on the aspect of affairs in
Europe then took place between Garibaldi and his
visitors. Subsequently, Mr. Cowen proposed the health
of " General Garibaldi, and may the next time he visits
the Tyne be as the citizen of an united Italian Republic,"
Mr. Lewkaski adding that he hoped the next time he
met him would be on the banks of the Tiber, and not the
Tyne— a wish which the General very warmly recipro-
cated. Mr. Harney proposed in fitting terms the health
of "Joseph Mazzini, the illustrious compatriot of Gari-
baldi," which was drunk with great enthusiasm. The
deputation then survejed the vessel, exchanged friendly
greetings with the patriot crew, and left for South
Shields, three hearty cheers being given for Garibaldi and
the good ship Commonwealth as the boat passed under
her bows.
The crew of the Commonwealth were all exiles— most
of them Italians who had fought under their captain in
Rome and the Banda Oriental. Though they sailed under
the star-spangled banner, none were American citizens.
The following letter was penned just as the writer left
the Tyne :—
Ship Commonwealth, April 12th, 1854.
My dear Cowen,— The generous manifestation of sym-
pathy with which I have been honoured by you and your
fellow-citizens is of itself more than sufficient to recom-
pense a life of the greatest merit. Born and educated as
I have been in the cause of humanity, my heart is en-
tirely devoted to liberty — universal liberty — national
and world-wide — 'ora e sempre' (now and for ever).
England is a great and powerful nation — independent of
auiliary aid — foremost in human progress — enemy to des-
potism— the only safe refuge of the exile — friend of the
oppressed ; but if ever England, your native country,
should be so circumstanced as to require the help of an
ally, cursed be that Italian who would not step forward
with me in her defence. Your Government has given the
Autocrat a check and the Austrians a lesson. The des-
pots of Europe are against you in consequence. Should
England at any time in a just cause need my arm, I am
ready to unsheath in her defence the noble and splendid
sword received at your hands. Be the interpreter of my
gratitude to your good and generous countrymen. I
regret, deeply regret, to leave without again grasping
hands with you. Farewell, my dear friend, but not
adieu ! Make room for mo in your heart. — Yours always
and everywhere, G. GARIBALDI.
P.S. — At Rio de la Plata I fought in favour of the
English against the tyrant Rosas.
The Rev. H. R. Haweis, writing of the Battle of the
Volturno, and quoting the words of an actor in that
conflict, speaks of Garibaldi " drawing his famous Eng-
lish sword and leading the decisive charge which turned
the fortunes of the day." This was the sword which was
presented to the patriot by his friends on Tyneside. An
old Garibaldian, one of the famous Thousand of Marsala
who effected the conquest of Sicily, states that his great
chief in all his Italian battles constantly carried the
weapon whose history we have here related.
132
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
I Marctt
1 1889
f0v
|JOT many years ago it was a popular belief
that a stone brought from Ireland possessed
the virtue of curing cattle that had the
misfortune to have been envenomed by the
bite of an adder or similar reptile. Not only were Irish
stones held in high estimation as charms, but Irish sticks
were alike prized. The farmer who dwelt in a valley in-
fested with adders was fortunate if he possessed an Irish
horse or an Irish cow ; a tooth of the former would as
effectually neutralise a sting as an Irish stone or stick,
and a touch from the cow was equally as efficacious. If a
native of Ireland made a circle with his finger around a
reptile, it died. According to Pliny, a serpent cannot
escape out of a circle drawn around it with an ash rod, a
belief held in Devonshire. In Germany the sap
of the ash tree is drunk as a remedy for serpent
bites, whilst in Sweden the touch of a hazel-rod
deprives serpents of their venom. The Irish charm-
stone, however, was the most popular reptile remedy
throughout the North of England and in Scotland, and
the belief in its virtue may be said to yet linger in the
secluded dales north of the Humber.
The following evidence of the belief in the virtue of the
Irish charm in the North of England has been gathered
by the writer, and may be considered the remnants of a
deeply rooted superstition in the localities referred to.
In the month of October, 1884, I handled a once famous
Irish stone which was in the custody of a good dame,
residing beneath the shadow of the Old Abbey of Blanch-
land, in Northumberland. On inquiry being made for
the charm, a search was made in the corner of a drawer,
and a bag, yellow with age, was carefully brought out,
unfolded, and its contents — the Irish stone — exhibited.
The good lady was seventy-eight years of age, and the
charm was in the house when she married into it, forty-
nine years before. It was the property of her husband,
who died about twenty -nine years since, and she had heard
him say that the stone belonged to his father. During her
time it had been lent "all up and down " to individuals
who had got envenomed, or had cattle so suffering, and
she could testify that its application stopped inflamma-
tion, as she remembered effectually rubbing the face of
her husband, who had been stuns; by a bee. The charm
which, as she had heard them tell, came from Conuaught,
is a water worn flint, lentiform, of a dark colour, blotched
with white. This Blanchland charm had not been used
for several years, but within the good lady's remembrance
it was of considerable repute, it being the only Irish stone
in the district. According to popular belief, there is
probably no place north of the Humber where a " charm
for venom" could be of more use than at Blanchland.
The banks of the river, the Derwent, a tributary of
the Tyne, are said to be greatly infested with adders.
They are curiously enough called the "Earl of Derwent-
water's adders," and thereby hangs a tale, which, if not
so poetical as the legend of St. Patrick and the reptiles,
is interesting in its way. Previous to the unfortunate
earl suffering death no adders or other reptiles, so
the story goes, haunted the banks of the Derwent.
However, immediately the head of the earl rolled from
the block in 1715, adders appeared in abundance on
the river's banks almost from the source of the stream to
where it enters the Tyne. The Derwent partly bounds
some of the Derwentwater estates, and here adders are
at the present day particularly numerous. Hence the
Blanchland charm was held in very high estimation,
numerous applications being formerly made for it.
An " oldest inhabitant " at the head of the Wear valley,
in the County of Durham, once informed me that he had
had his arm rubbed with an Irish stone. When a boy
and helping his father to build a stone wall in the
fields, he had his thumb envenomed by some kind of
a reptile. His father, a shrewd Scotchman, had
previously procured a stone brought from the Emerald
Isle by a wandering native. This charm stone was
brought out and applied, commencing at the shoulder
from whence the rubbing with the stone was gradually
brought down the arm, until the pain was driven
out. My informant was an intelligent resident who
died five or six years ago at the age of 92 years. At
Stanhope, in Weardale, a similar charm was kept by
a Mrs. Clarke, who applied it to all comers with en-
venomed limbs. The Stanhope stone, as described to
me by a person who once had his hand rubbed with it to
cure a sting, was about two inches square and about an
inch thick. A few years ago a friend informed me that
an Irish stone existed in a house on the banks of the
Tees, near the town of Middlelon-in-Teesdale, and was
kept expressly for the purpose of curing venom.
Both of these charms have their history of wonderful
cures.
Irish sticks were also held in high estimation for
their healing powers in the Northern dales. Seventy
years ago Weardale possessed one owned by a per-
son named Morley. An elderly woman, now dead,
gave me the following particulars respecting herself and
this wonderful stick : — When a scholar at the village
school she had a ring- worm on her arm, and the mistress of
the school rubbed the part affected with her gold wedding
ring, a supposed remedy ; but the wedding ring charm
failed, and the scholar was despatched to Morley's. The
famed stick, which had a great reputation in the valley,
was brought into operation and as far as my informant
could remember a cure was affected. Sixty odd years
ago an innkeeper's daughter, at St. John's Chapel,
got stung in the hand, whilst working in the garden.
The hand was cured by the application of an Irish
stick, which was about five inches long and an inch
March!
1889. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
133
thick. It was well polished, through repeated operations,
and the charm remained at the public-house for many
years, having almost as much practice as the village
doctor. My informant, who died a few months
ago, was eye witness to the operation, and was a brother
of the young woman who was thus cured.
The teeth of an Irish horse were evidently as efficacious
as stones and sticks. Seventy odd years ago peats
were largely used as a fuel by the dwellers in the
higher reaches of the Wear valley. A Weardale resi-
dent informed me that he remembered a lead miner's
wife, who, whilst stacking peats, or in local parlance,
mooing peats, in the yard, had her hand envenomed .by
some reptile which had been amongst the peats when
brought in from the moors. A neighbour, hearing of the
good woman's misfortune, sent an Irish horse tooth with
instructions to rub it over the envenomed hand. The
order was obeyed, a cure was effected, and the tooth,
having added to its reputation as a charm, was kept as
such for many long years afterwards. A farmer in the
same district informed me that an Irish horse tooth was
for many years kept on his premises as a charm for
venom.
An Irish cow possesses the hidden virtue accord-
ing to the following: — A friend in Teesdale informs
me of a person who was envenomed by the bite of an
ether. His hand and arm swelled to such a degree that
he could not get his ncif through his great coat sleeve but
with difficulty. Though this was alarming, a remedy
was looming in the distance. In Holwick village, on the
Yorkshire side of the Tees, a farmer kept an Irish cow
reputed to be of the right kind for working a cure.
Thither posted the suffering man. On the patient nearing
the farmstead, the sympathising animal trotted to meet
him, and energetically licked his hand. The cure was
miraculous. A relation of mine witnessed some sixty
years ago an extraordinary result of this virtue in Irish
cattle. Large herds of these animals are driven through
Northumberland to the Southern markets. They
were frequently depastured for a night at Redesdale
in one particular pasture which was infested with
adders. One morning, after a drove of Irish cattle had
departed, hundreds of dead adders, as witnessed by my
friend, were found on the ground. The belief is that if
an adder gets on to where an Irish cow has been lying it
cannot get off, but dies. As previously stated, adders
abound on the banks of the Derwent in North-
umberland. At a place called Ackton, close to this
stream, cows frequently get envenomed in the pastures.
A dweller, having a cattlegate on a neighbouring farm,
called Winnoshill, bought an Irish cow, and, fortunately
for the owner, no reptile would touch it. My informant
was an observing man. He had seen eight young adders
bolt into the mouth of their parent and disappear on
being suddenly surprised \
WILLIAM MOHLKT EGGLESTONK.
j]R. JOHN KOBINSON, a tradesman of New-
castle, was fortunate enough, in the course of
the year 1838, to rescue from destruction a
large mass of documents which throw more or less light
on the history and doings of the famous Northumbrian
family of the Delavals. Some account of this family has
already been given in the Monthly Chronicle (see vol. i.,
p. 4-37) : but we are concerned now with what we may
fairly describe as the Delaval Find.
The finder himself has explained to the Society of
Antiquaries the nature of the documents he has saved
from oblivion. The late Dr. Charlton, about twenty
years ago, made mention, in an interesting lecture on
"Society in Northumberland in the 17th Century," of
the thousands of papers belonging to the Delaval family
which were preserved at Ford Castle, among which
were letters from nearly all the principal families of the
North of England, as well as from the leading literary
men of the last century. Ever since the delivery of Dr.
Charlton's lecture, said Mr. Robinson, local historians
had longed to have an opportunity of inspecting the
collection at Ford. Yet during all these years there had
been a vast pile of letters, despatches, and old records
lying in a roofless warehouse at Old Hartley, not a dozen
miles from Newcastle. Some few of these had been
reduced to a decomposed mass of pulp, through the
action of the winters' snows and summers' rains of
more than fifty years. It was only by a portion of the
roof falling upon the old papers that any of them had
been preserved. Among these were the great seal of
Henry VII., the privy seal of James I., an autograph
of Queen Anne, and an autograph of the ill-fated Earl of
Derwentwater.
It was through the courtesy of Mr. Lumsden, agent to
the Marchioness of Waterford, that Mr. Robinson was
allowed to collect what he thought would be of any
interest. He began his labours among a vast collection of
ledgers, tabulating the wages paid to the various work-
men engaged in constructing Seaton Sluice a hundred
years ago ; but, as he turned over ledger after ledger and
countless piles of vouchers, he began to pick up packets
of private letters of the Delavals, Irish State papers, and
Admiralty despatches to Capt. Delaval, with innumer-
able receipts for legacies and annuities paid to almost
every family in Northumberland of any importance,
together with the cost of cows bought at Hexham and
Morpeth in the year 1590, as well as receipts for the
daily articles used in castle and cot from time im-
memorial.
The following is an extract from one of the family
letters written by Mrs. Astley (Rhoda Delaval), probably
in 1751 :—
Yesterday se'nnight we were all at Newcastle assembly.
134
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
(March
\ 18«9.
There was a great deal of good company. It was the
day of the Mayor's feast. Ridley is Mayor. My Lady
Blackett was there, and made many inquiries after you.
My Lord Ravensworth dined here the other day. We
have pitched the tent by the sea-side. It is placed in the
Ijreat oval in the garden, all the warm weather, where we
drink tea every afternoon. I imagine you have heard
that Mr. Bailey is dead. Mrs. Symms says he left ten
thousand pounds. He died of a fever. It is surprising
to know what great cures have been done by Dr. James's
powders. Here a sad fever has gone round the country.
All who have taken it have recovered. I believe I told
Sm that Sir John Grey is quite well, and seven more at
artley that have taken the powders are cured of very
sad fever after they had been light-headed some daya.
The same lady writes again : —
Tinmouth and Cullercoates are much in fashion ; not a
room empty. My Lady Kavensworth and my Lady
Clavering were a month at Cullercoates bathing. My
Lady (Swinburne and Miss Swinburne are gone to live at
York. I must leave off, as it is chappie Sunday, though
I am in a very scribbling humour. We shall have a very
thin congregation to-day. It is the first Sunday divine
service has been performed at Mr. .Ridley's chappie at
Blyth, and curiosity will carry most of the people thither.
The old letters abundantly confirm the popular stories
about the amusements at Seaton Delaval. George
Delaval, writing to his brother Thomas in February,
1753, says: — "It was in the Daily Advertiser that
upwards of four thousand gentlemen and ladies had been
assembled at Seaton Delaval to see the rope dancers."
Mrs. Astley writes in December : — " Bob has undertaken
to entertain us with a pantomime entertainment of his
own composing these Christmas holidays. He has taken
in most all the people in the house as performers. I
fancy it will be a very curious sight." Later, she informs
her correspondent how the affair had gone off : — " Bob
has performed his pantomime entertainment before a
great number of county folk, who showed their approba-
tion by great fits of laughter."
Much theatrical and other gossip of the time is con-
tained in the following letter from Foote, the actor and
dramatist of Dr. Johnson's day : —
London, March 13.
In the North. What d'ye do in the North when you
are wanted in the West? On the 24th instant appears a
Farce of your H'ble Servant, which without the power-
ful aid of such Freinds as Mr. Delaval will I fear en-
counter a most disastrous Destiny.
The Recorder of your Town of Newcastle has lately oc-
casiund a small inflammation at Court. About four months
since he dind with Ld. Kavensworth, and takeing up a
newspaper which mentiond the Bishop of Glouscester as
the Bishop of Chichesters successor in the Prince of Wals's
family, declard that was the seccjd great officer about
the Prince whom he had formerly known to drink
treasonable Healths, Andrew Stone being the other.
Ld Ravensworth made a Report of this to the Cabinet
Council, which the two delinquents with the Solicitor-
General, he being equally culpable, were ordered to
attend ; sundry examinations were had, of what nature
has not transpird ; the result of all is that the sub-
sequent loyal attachment of these Gentlemen should
obliterate the stain of their former principles, and the
prosecution be branded with the ignominious titles of
groundless, trifling, and vexatious.
There is no news but what the papers will bring you,
but we have long and pompous accounts of the Tilts,
tournements, tumblings, and Bull-baitings at Seaton.
Your Uncle Price says Mr. Pelham has hired the two
danceing Bears to transmitt to your Brother by way of
keeping him in the country till the Parliament is up, and
Chitty swears that the coliers ac Billinsgate imploy all
their Leizure hours in flinging of Somersets. You must
expect the Wits to be arch, but I dont know how to take
your calling me one, in your last, as I know in what light
you men of Bussness regard that Character, but I give you
leave to think of me as you please in every other respect,
provided you do me Justice in one Article, that I am &
ever shall be Dear Mr Delaval's
Most obligd & obedt Servt
SAML. FOOTE.
Another letter of Foote's, as ill-spelt as the one just
quoted, is addressed to Mr. John Delaval. It will be
seen that the dramatist mixes up some scandal with his
theatrical small talk : —
Pal Mai, Jany. 17th.
I am sorry Dear Mr. Delaval should suppose he wanta
a subject to interest and entertain me, whilst he has it in.
his power to communicate his own happiness, &c., and
that of his family. To the latter you have this morning a
collateral addition by the birth of a Son to Miss Roach.*
The Theatres have each producd a pantomime. That
of Covent Garden is the Sorcerer, revivd with a new
piece of Machinery that is elegantly designed and happily
executed. The subject is a Fountain. The Genii of
Drury Lane has some pretty contrivances, but the
Inspector complains of its being barren of Incidents,
defective in the plan, and improbable in the Denoue-
ment. We have had no new Comedys but one given by
Mr. Weymondsel and his Lady, Jo. Child is gone to
France, the frail fair one turnd outof Doors,and a suit for
a Divorce commencd. Francis's Tragedy called Con-
stantiu is to be acted at Covent Garden. A Comedy
called the Gamester is soon to be played at Drury Lane.
1 am writing the English Man at Paris for Macklyn's
benefit. The Attorney General is to be made a Peer, the
Solicitor Attorney, and York Solicitor General.
This is all the news I have now to offer, and, indeed,
all that I have to say, except that
I am most sincerely yours,
SAML. FOOTE.
The scale and magnificence of the private theatricals
given by the Delavals can be best understood by the cost
of one of the entertainments at Seaton Delaval. Here is
a financial record which Mr. Robinson haa discovered
among the wreckage at Hartley : —
ESTIMATE OF EXPENCE ATTENDn PLAY AT SEATON DELAVAL,
FEBR. 1, 179a
Ibs. £ B. D
6 Hams Ornamented, at a mean 2011). each, 120 at 7d. . . 3 10 0
2 Do. Swarm and Boar's Head,201lj. ea. 10 at 7d. . . 1 3 4
6 Turkey pyes, calculated at 12s. each 3 12 0
6 Ox tongues ornamented, 2s. 6d. p 0 15 0
2 Do. plain. Do. 0 5 0
2 Fillets Veal, 51hs. each, lOlbs. at 6d 050
SPlatesof Collard Beef, at l/6p 0 12 a
4 Aspeaks, contg 40 smelts io strong sauce, 3s. p 0 12 0
52 Fowls includg Baisting, &c., compd 1/6 p 318 0
12 Ibs. Butter, estimated for ornamentg Hams, &C, 012 0
6 Ibs. Hog:s lard for Swann, &c., 8d 0 4 6
12 Lobsters, at 9d. p. 090
16 Plates of Jellys, 2/6 200
14 Do. Blomonge, 2s 180
7 Large and small Savoy Cakes, at 5s. p. 1 15 0-
10 Apple Tarts, 1/6 0 15 0
80 Cneese Cakes. Id. 068
30 Apricot Tartletts, 3d. p 076
24 Strawberry do. 2(1. p. 040
40 Raspberry do. 2d. p. 0 6 8
Confectionery acct. for cakes and Sundry sweet- V 4 0 ft
meats, mottos, &c., &c f
Cakes charged by Mr. Nuthwaite 0 17 6
200 Golden pippins, 9s. , and 89 oranges, 10s. 6d. 0 19 6
10 Plates of Blanched Almonds and Raisins, Is. 6d. p. . 0 15 0
24 do. of Figs. French Plumbs, &c., at 4d p. 080
White Bread used and crumbled away, &c,,
2d.p.forl20 100
31 0 2
See Monthly Chronicle, 1888, p. 283.
March
1889.
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
135
1 Pye left nearly whole .. .0100 & "" "' ?fter havj"? Perused it lately (for 'twas by mere accident
1 large Savoy Cake ................ 070 i recover d it) two or three times, I cannot find out what
1 Tongue .......................... 0 2 6 I aim'd at by such a reverie.
!h?n? atn,'J,Bo<?r's,H^ nea,r'y wk°;e 1 0 0 J.have read the GoosequiU twice since I have seen you
kit Confectioner's Articles with very great satisfaction, and ajjree with Dr Hill
Jellys', none of consequence.' ..... - 3 4 0 *r± 'her,M°Tnody '* as fine? Pief of "dicule as ha, lately
27 16 2 appeared. I am to spend a classical hour or two with
Beef for Gentlemen's servts., drivers, &c., Dlm tnis week, and we both wish you wou'd be so kind
abt. 112 Ibs. at 4d ......................... 117 4 as to give us the favor of yr company. If you shou'd
nhtoTn y d°' d°" come t° Vauxhall any night this week, yr chariot must of
abt. 4 loaves 2s. p. ........................ OJ 0 necessity pass by My lodgings which Ire at Mr. Bob"
Hay for abt. 80 horses, computed 80. p. 2 13 4 ' Larsan s, burgeon in Lambeth, where I shou'd be obliged
Oats for do., 3d. p 100 to you for a Bow as you go by the window. I am already
- 3 13 4 ln. 2reat Imputation, from having been seen to walk
4 Ibs. Wax Candles for Dining Table extra, privately with you in the Gardens
2s. Wd ................................... Oil 4 lamSr
51b& Sperm, for Chandellicrs, &a, 2s. 6d. ____ 0 12 6 Yr mnst nhliVrl ft, nlWI* « f
Jibs. do. for Side Tables, &c. . 076 * r most oblig rt & obedt bert.
1 11 4 THOMAS SWITZEB.
12 Ibs. Mold Candles for stage Candlesticks, HINT TAKEN FROM THE GOOSEQUILL
^.Tano^or^;^::::::::::::::::: c°108 8 ^MStS38£»»
Musicians supd. wages ............ 4 14 6 As a -!• air-one commanded he came at the word
Painter and Horse hire, about ...... 1 11 6 And did the grand ofh'ce in tyewig and sword.
Chaise Hire for Musicians, about. ... 0 15 0 The atfair being ended so sweet and so nice
- — 710 He held out his hand with— a— you know M'era my price •
Woman In kitchen, meat 4 wages, 6 days, Is. Yr price? says my Lady-why Sr 'tis a brother
Da in house 3 days',' 'da'.: :::'.::: : 0 4 I And Dootors must nevet take feesof each other.
3 Joiners, 1 Day, each" 2s ..................... 060
3Labrs. takinecare Horses, &c., Is. 6d. p. ..046
2 Turners Waiters supd. will have £1 Is. p. ..220
^Sr3davVassistinginHouse,ls:6ip: 3Jji
2 Fidlers for the dance after supper ................... 110
47 17 0
Sundry Wines, Spts ,& Ale, &c ................... 17 4 9
65 1 9 - _ __
j Ibs. Tea, 10s .............................. 0 7 6
2 Ibs. Coffee, 4s ............................. 080 C A.PT \I\ BOVFR
5 Ibs. Sugar for Mull'd Wine, at 13d .......... 0 5 5 ==,
Bibs' Da forNea''us0lM.'>SC"UPStoir8'16id' 0 * ^ ^^SSjURING the greater portion of the eighteenth
12 Lemonsfor Do.riid....:.':::::::.'.'.'.'::::: 0 1 6 IB K^il II century, when all the nations of Europe
0Quarts0Cretla9p.rCOaee:^d'.'.'.'.'.'.'.-.'.'.'.'.'. 0 | I IRU WCre " ^^ ^'^ ^ "* °ther'
2* ESK8 .................................... 016 \£*^*^S&\ conscription enabled the Continental Powers
^^—— ^ 2 2 9A
__ to provide soldiers for their armies, while the English
6 Ibs. Com. Cands. Extra for House, Stables, &c ......... % 3 8* Government had in turn to resort to the "Law of
Impress " to procure seamen to man their ships of war,
14 Own Ffamy. Supr. 14s. & Tea 7s. dedt .............. 1 1 0 the Royal Navy being then, as now, the right arm of
neatExpence £55 7 2* England. This oppressive and unpopular law, when
„,,..,,, , „. T, , . brought into operation, naturally created an uneasy
The last letter from Mr. Robinson's collection it is
., .. ... , sense of individual danger amongst the sailors, keelmen,
necessary to quote here was evidently written by a poor
Gu c* *. u i n'u o -i. "j 11- and all workers on Tyneside whose avocations partook
rub Street hack. Thomas Switzer s grovelling appeal
for the honour of a bow from the wealthy Mr. Belaval is of a nautical cha!-aotCT' and were made sti» more hateful
of a piece wrth his boast that he is already in great ^ the arbltrary and cruel aots of the officlals to whom
reputation from having been seen to walk with him in had been entrusted the <=^ymg out of these laws.
Vauxhall Determined resistance, resulting in rioting and blood-
13th May. shed, often followed the arrival of a vessel of war in the
Sr,— I have brought two of my Friend's, Collins and T ,.0n His Majesty's Service" on the commence-
honest master Randolph, to wait on you. I hope you will
find something in the former as a Lyric ; and (if I have a ment of a press.
right notion of your taste) am confident that, notwith- Only a few songs expressive of the popular feeling on
standing the nuaintness of the times, in which Donne and
others his contemporaries hew'd out every line they wrote, the dolnSs of the Press Kane have survived the days of
you will desire a better acquaintance with the latter. A their interest, and these are nearly all in an incomplete
good critic in beauty can discover many fine features ... ,,.,,, , i n ^ • r> • *
under the monstrous ruffs and farthingales with which all form • but the short ballad of CaPtam Bover 18 one of
our old pictures are crouded and disgraced, the best.
and if you can have the patience to read a morceau of
mine written when 1 was a mere boy, under a love dis-
appointment, I shall be glad to know whether you can
find any drift or meaning in it, for 1 seriously declare,
.
chief, by Mr. Richard Welford, appeared not long since
^ th Nemastle Weeklv chronicle :-
The first commission for the impressment of seamen
136
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
March
was issued in the reign of Edward III. (1355), and upon
occasions of emergency the practice continued down to
recent times. Upon the Tyne, where the oversea coal
trade furnished an excellent training ground for seamen,
the system of forced service fell with remarkable
severity. Local annals teem with records of riot and
violence occasioned by the proceedings of the press gang
at Shields and Newcastle. Performing obnoxious duties,
aided by spies and informers, the officers and men of the
impress service were hated by the seafaring and riverside
people with an intensity of abhorrence that knew no
limit. "Retaining a vivid recollection of the scenes of
impressment which I have witnessed in my youth in
the streets of this very town," writes Mr. Salmon
("South Shields: Its Past, Present, and Future"), "the
screams of the women and the shouts and imprecations
ot the men, and the curses of the press gang who were
tracking like bloodhounds the flying steps of some un-
happy sailor, just returning perhaps in joy and expecta-
tion to his wife and children after an absence of years,
I cannot wonder at the abhorrence of the impress
service which always prevailed among the North-
Country seamen." To drub the gang, to outwit it, to
escape from its clutches, to tar and feather its minions,
were considered highly meritorious achievements, which
often found expression in stirring rhyme and thrilling
narrative.
During the war with America, the Regulating Captain
of the port of Newcastle, as the head of the impress
service here was officially designated, was John Bover.
He had been a captain in the Royal Navy, had seen
service, and was a brave and gallant officer. While he
remained in office, the barbarous system over which he
presided was carried out with tact and discretion. Aided
by his lieutenant, Cuthbert Adatnson, father of John
Adamson the antiquary, he made the forces under his
command respected as well as dreaded, for, although he
could not at all times restrain the eagerness of his sub-
ordinates to rescue men, he did his spiriting gently, and
accompanied by as little hardship as the nature of the
service permitted. With the one exception of the song,
no ill-feeling towards Captain Bover displays itself in
Tyneside literature ; no local annalist associates his name
with discreditable incidents ; no local poet perpetuates
disagreeable episodes of his life in scathing rhyme.
Among the official classes, the municipal authorities, and
the leading people in Newcastle, he was held in high
estimation.
When he died (May 20, 1782), aged 68 years, he was
honoured by a public funeral, "as a testimony of his
meritorious services to his king and country." Sykes
informs us that the East York and Westmorland
Militias, with their bands joined, marched from the
parade to the house of the deceased in the Bigg Market,
where the rank and file divided and lined the street to St.
Nicholas' Church. First came Grenadiers with reversed
muskets ; the beadles of St. John's and St. Nicholas'
with covered staves ; bands playing the "Dead March,"
with covered drums ; the boatswain and crew of the
deceased's barge; then the corpse, the pall borne by eight
naval officers; Lieut. Adamson, R.N., chief mourner, and
other mourners ; the ensigns of the militia, and of the
26th Regiment from Tynemouth ; lieutenants, captains,
and colonels, General Beckwith and Lord Adam Gordon ;
the Sheriff, Aldermen, and Recorder of Newcastle ; the
Mayor, with his attendants, and a battalion. In the
churchyard the Grenadiers fired three volleys, "and
thus, " adds Sykes, "did navy, military, and civil, with
many thousands of people of all ranks, with the most
minute decorum, pay the last tribute to the remains of a
good and gallant officer, and a worthy man."
Captain Bover was Regulating Captain of the Port of
Tyne for twenty-four years at least. There is in Mr.
Joseph Crawhall's possession a letter from the War
Office to the Commander of the Land Forces at New-
castle, as follows : —
War Office, 19tt May, 1759.
Sir,— The Right Honble. the Lords of the Admiralty
having represented to me that Capt. Bover, who is em-
ployed in raising men at Newcastle, will soon have a
sufficient number of Men to send round, and their Lord-
ships having desired tha» he may have a Party of Soldiers,
consisting of a Sergeant and twelve Men to go up with
them, in case the Men should be mutinous, I desire you
will be pleased to comply with their Lordships' request,
when applied to by Capt. Bover for that purpose. — I have
the honour to be, Sir, your most obedient humble servant,
BAKKINQTON.
To Major-General Whitmore, Newcastle.
The Rev. Dr. Bruce informed the writer some years
ago that he had heard Captain Bover was of French
extraction, and that the family name was "Bouvier."
The tune was taken down by the late Mr. Thomas
Doubleday from the singing of a street musician, but he
was unable to recover more than one verse of the ballad.
In his opinion the melody was undoubtedly Northum-
brian, and he thought could be traced back as far as the
latter part of Queen Anne's time or the accession of the
Hanover family. It is a tender and beautiful air,
enough to deserve the best elforta of a Burns to fit it
with appropriate verse.
Where he3 f been, maw can - ny hin - ny?
Where hes ti' be«n, maw win - some man?
Aw been ti' the nor-'ard cruis - ing back and for-'ard,
i \ m . s =^ ^
— -m—m-f JV :r~l V m 2 fJI i
Aw been ti' the nor-'ard cruis - ing sair and lang,
-jfr-fr-+--\t-=£s= =q^=
•ffrr1 • It ~ V &^ — t —
Aw been
the
'ard
-«-•-
Cruis - ing back and for - 'ard,
But
daur - na come a - shore for Bov-er and his gang.
, ilirtftljttrg*
HITTON TOWER, anciently Whetton, which
has long been the residence of the Rectors of
Rothbury, stands at a short distance west
from the small but pleasant village of Whitton, about
half a mile south from Rothbury. Like several other
parsonage-houses in Northumberland, it was formerly
a very strong castlet, »nd formed part of a range of
March!
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
137
towers whicb extended from Hepple, about five miles
further west, to Warkworth at the mouth of the Coquet.
These towers are now all in ruins except Whitton, which
has always been inhabited. In 1381, Earl Gilbert
Humfranville or Umfraville died possessed of the manor
in which it is situated, and which his widow conveyed in
t a
marriage to the first Lord Percy, by one of whose
descendants it was given in exchange to the Rectory of
Rothbury for the old hall and glebe of that benefice,
" which lay intermixed through the demesne of Rothbury."
The walls of the tower, at the foundation, are eleven feet
thick ; in the kitchen, nine ; in the bed-chambers, six.
A vaulted cellar beneath is supposed to have been used as
a refuge for the cattle in the event of a Scottish inroad or
border raid previous to the Union of the Crowns. In this
cellar there is a deep well, which supplied the inmates
with water when the place was besieged or blockaded.
The tower has been frequently repaired and beautified,
and is now an elegant and commodious edifice. The Rev.
John Thomlinson, Dr. Thomas Sharp, the Rev. William
Birdmore, and the Rev. Dr. Drummond, who successively
held the living during the last century, expended many
thousands of pounds in enlarging the buildingandbeautify-
ing the surrounding grounds ; and the two Vernon-Har-
courts, sons of Edward, Lord Archbishop of York, made
many improvements about the place during their incum-
bencies, at a cost, it is said, of something like four thousand
pounds. The Rector of Rothbury (now the Rev. A. O.
Medd) is lord of the manor of Whitton by virtue of his
office, and entitled by ancient custom to "command the
freeholders to work for him so many days in the year at
the hay and corn harvest."
l VISIT to Sunderland Church cannot fail to
recall the memories of half a century back,
j wnen the Rev. Robert Gray, M.A., was
interred in the old churchyard. Mr. Gray had held
the rectory of Sunderland for eighteen years, during
which time he was indefatigable in his pastoral
labours, so as to merit and obtain the most sincere
respect of the whole body of his parishioners, whether
they belonged to the Established Church or not.
During the terrible cholera visitation, he showed an
example which only few of his clerical brethren were
brave enough to follow, visiting the filthy slums where
the plague prevailed most fatally, and ministering
to the material as well as the spiritual wants of the
poor patients to whose bedsides he came without
shrinking. No wonder that the common people, who
found in him a warm friend, ever ready to sacrifice his
own ease and comfort for their special welfare, looked
up to him with feelings surpassing common reverence,
and that the name of Rector Gray is still current
138
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/Mnrch
i IS
1889.
amongst them as designating one who was a model of
sacerdotal excellence.
Mr. Gray's father was a jeweller in London, into whose
debt the Duke of York ran deeply, and who at
length got his bill settled out of a Parliamentary
grant voted to that illustrious scapegrace. Mr. Gray
himself camo to the North in 1816, as evening lecturer to
his uncle, Dr. Gray, Rector of Bishopwearmouth ; and he
acquitted himself so well in this comparatively humble
capacity that when he got the presentation to Sunderland
parish, from Bishop Barrington, in 1819, on the death of
the Rev. John Hatnpson, the people all congratulated
themselves on having so earnest and diligent a man as he
was to labour amongst them, " in season and out of
season," as they felt sure he would do. And they were
not disappointed. An old lady (now ninety-three years
of age), relates that she has seen him carrying a
lantern and a basket, on a round of visits to
the poor families at night, when few people could
have faced the stormy and inclement weather ; and
many an aged person, who may have been cheered by
these kindly visits, or whose relatives may have bene-
fited by them, could, doubtless, tell the same tale. Mr.
Gray married a lady belonging to Sunderland, daughter
of Mr. Rowland Webster, of the Deptford Patent
Rojwry, and sister of Mr. Christopher Mating Webster,
of Pallion Hall.
This benevolent and popular clergyman died of a
fever, caught in visiting the sick, on the llt'n of February,
1838, aged forty-eight years. His funeral took place on
the 20th, and old residents say that "there never was
such a funeral in the town as Rector Gray's." The
Sunderland Beacon wrote of it as follows : — "There could
not be less than between twenty and thirty thousand
individuals assembled on the solemn occasion. The
working classes appeared in their best apparel ; and all
classes and degrees seemed impressed with feelings of
deep emotion, as the solemn and sublime spectacle moved
slowly along." The funeral train was composed of up-
wards of seven hundred of the principal inhabitants of
the town, a great number of carriages of the neighbouring
gentry, and a detachment of the 30th Regiment then
quartered in the barracks. Both Jews and Catholics
marched amongst the mourners. A subscription was
commenced shortly afterwards for erecting a memorial to
the deceased, and the sum received amounted to nearly
£800. One-third of the fund was expended on the erection
of a statue of Carrara marble, which was placed in
the church entrance, under the tower, in March, 1840.
The remainder of the fund was invested as an endow-
ment for the Sunderland Parochial Schools, situated
round by the Moor, which were thenceforth called the
"Gray Schools."
The sketch which accompanies this article is copied
from a portrait (the only one we have seen) made by a
wandering artist at the time the Rector was living. It
originally belonged to Mrs. Burton, one of the aged
inmates of the old Almshouses, Church Street, Sunder-
land.
atttr
THE GREENHOW AND MARTINEAU
FAMILIES.
In the January number of your interesting Monthly
Chronicle, I observe, on page 44, an error in the paragraph
regarding the Greenhow family. As the daughter of
Dr. Thomas Michael Greenhow, perhaps you will permit
me to state that his youngest sister, Sarah, became the
wife, not of a brother, but of a cousin, of Mrs. T. M.
Greenhow and Harriet Martineau. Mr. George Mar-
tineau was a son of David ; the two ladies were daughters
of Thomas Martineau. David and Thomas were, respec-
tively, the second and the youngest sons of David Mar-
tineau, of Norwich, a physician of Huguenot descent.
FRANCES ELIZABETH LUPTON, Leeds.
THE WATCHMAN'S RATTLE.
The need of the watchman's rattle which is shown in
the accompanying sketch is well enough illustrated
in the following lines taken from an old bacchanalian
song :—
We'll break windows, we'll break doors,
The watrh knock down by threes and fours,
Then let the doctors work their cures,
And tinker up their bruises ;
We'll beut the bailiffs out of fun,
We'll make the mayor and sheriffs ran ;
We are the boys no man dares dun,
If he regards a whole skin.
The sound of the rattle, harsh and loud, could hardly
fail to bring assistance if law-abiding folks were within
hearing.
The particular instrument figured above has been pre-
sented to the Sunderland Museum by Mr. John Moore,
of Beckenham. Some "old Charley" of the year 1820 had
been obliged to give it up during a row at the foot of
George Street (in High Street), Sunderland. A watch-
March I
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
139
man's box was placed somewhere near the present
Exchange, and more than once it was found turned on its
face, with the tenant underneath. The number of " the
watch " was but small, and the men employed were old, and
sometimes portly, thus giving special ad vantages to young
fellows "out for a lark." J. G. B., Sunderland.
ALNWICK CORPORATION.
A correspondent calls my attention to a misstate-
11 ii 'lit which occurs in the paper on "football in the
North," p. 55, as to the borough of Alnwick being
still unreformed. I confess that I must have been
"oblivious," like Dominie Sampson, when I wrote to
that effect. For Alnwick was one of the places to which
the Commissioners, appointed in 1876 to inquire into
such municipal corporations as were not subject to the
Municipal Corporation Acts then in force, considered
that these Acts should be applied. In pursuance of this
recommendation an Act was passed (46 and 47 Viet.,
c. 18), cited as the Municipal Corporations Act, 1883 ;
and in accordance with its provisions " the chamberlains,
common council, and freemen " of Alnwick were recon-
stituted as a corporate body, in the same way as if they
had been mentioned in schedule B of the Municipal
Corporations Act, 1835. But this corporate body pos-
sesses no magisterial authority, the town being still
within the jurisdiction of the county magistrates.
W. B.
ttwffttr.
A TEERIBLE FRIGHT.
A boiler explosion occurred recently in the neighbour-
hood of Dunston, happily unattended by injury to any
of the workmen. A man who happened to be very near
the scene of the accident got a terrible fright. Rushing
up to one of his mates, he exclaimed in his terror : — " Is
aa onny warse? " to which his mate replied : " No, thoo's
aall reet." Whereupon he added : "Man, aa thowt aa
wesdeed!"
FLIGHTING PIGEONS.
A pitman was about to " flight " a favourite pigeon
near the Central Station, Newcastle, when a policeman
came up and told him no pigeon had to be flighted there,
because of blocking the road up. The miner, pulling out
his watch to see the time to a second, said to his pet bird,
as he threw it on the flags, "Mind, Bessy, ma bonny
bairn, thoo hes not to flee : se waak hyem, and say it's
aall Bobby if thoo dissent win !"
SHAMPOOING.
A few days ago, in Blyth, two or three young ladies
met while out shoppinor, and the conversation turned on
the all-important event, to them, of the annual full and
fancy dress ball. Said one young lady to another : " I sup-
pose you and your sister will be going ?" " Oh ! yes," was
the reply. " Who is going to chaperone you ?" "I beg your
pardon?" " Who is going to chaperone you ?" A pause
—then, suddenly seeing it, as she thought— "Oh ! we
always do our own hair !"
SLOW LOCOMOTION.
An express train in a fog is, of course, anything but an
expeditious vehicle of travel. The other day, a market
woman, with her basket of butter and eggs, was heard
grumbling aloud to herself, as the train cautiously felt
its way on the line from South Shields to Newcastle.
" Stopping agyen ! A bonny express ! It's waaking noo ;
onnyway, aa could waak as fast !" As tlie train
approached Gateshead, it jolted over the points, where-
upon she laughed and said : "It's trotting noo !"
THE MARTYRED UNCLE.
An old lady, known as Jenny Latimer, resides not a
hundred miles from Newcastle. One day a friend,
referring to her name, asked her if she was any relation to
Latimer the martyr, who was burnt at the stake.
"Wey," said she, "aa's not sartin aboot it ; but aa had
an uncle whe wes aythor scaaded or bornt !"
Mr. John James Clay, a prominent member of the
Masonic body at Sunderland, died on the 16th January,
at Ventnor, Isle of Wight, whither he had removed for
the benefit of his health. The deceased, who was 48 years
of age, was a son of Mr. John Clay, of Herrington Hall.
On the 20th of January, Mr. Benjamin Carr Lawton,
at one time an extensive contractor, died at his residence,
Fern Avenue, Newcastle, at the age of upwards of 70
years. A native of Uewsbury, he came to this district
when a young man, as a member of the firm of Rush and
Lawton, who constructed part of the Newcastle and Ber-
wick Railway. Subsequently he obtained the contract
for the masonry work in connection with the High Level
Bridge and its approaches, and afterwards was engaged
in making the branch railway between Haltwhistle and
Alston. The most important undertaking with which
Mr. Lawton was associated, however, was the construc-
tion of the piers at the mouth of the Tyne ; but after the
works had been in progress for several years, differences
arose, and the Commissioners assumed the control them-
selves. These disputes led to a long and most costly
arbitration, resulting in a verdict for Mr. Lawton for a
large sum. The last contract upon which the deceased gen-
tleman was engaged was that for the construction of the
Team Valley Railway between Gateshead and Durham.
Mr. Thomas Kay, who had been a member of the Mid-
dlesbrough Town Council since 1872, and an alderman
from 1886, died at Linthorpe on the 20th of January.
On the 24th of January, Mr. Alderman Edward Lucas
Pease, of Mowden, Darlington, died from the effects of
injuries received by an accident in the hunting field about
a week previously. The deceased, who was 50 years of
age, was a son of Mr. John Beaumont Pease, of North
140
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
(March
\ 1889.
Lodge, Darlington, and was a member of the Society of
Friends. He had been a member of the Darlington Cor-
poration since its formation ; he had also held the office
of Mayor, and had for a long time been chairman of the
Waterworks Committee. He was a magistrate of Dur-
ham, and of Radnorshire, of which latter county he was
High Sheriff some years ago. Mr. Pease had come for-
ward as a candidate for the Durham County Council ;
and on receipt of information of his death, the poll in the
Darlington (4th) Division, in which there was a contest,
waa closed after it had proceeded two or three hours. A
fnsh election was thus rendered necessary.
On the 26th January, there died at his residence,
Weitern Hill, Durham, Mr. John Reed Appleton, a
member of several local learned bodies. He belonged
to khe Surtees and nearly every other antiquarian and
archaeological society in the North, and was a fellow
of the Society of Antiquaries of England. He possessed
considerable literary ability, and was the author of a
number of poems, which were collected and published,
with other works, by Mr. Tweddell, of Stokesley. Mr.
Appleton was 64 years of age.
On the same day, died in Newcastle, Mr. James Mac-
donald, who was well known in the theatrical profession
as actor and manager in the North. During his career,
he was manager for the famous Sam Roxby at Shields,
Scarborough, and Hartlepool. He was one of the prin-
cipals in the direction of Drury Lane Theatre in the time
of Chatterton, and played one of the Dromios on the
clamic boards of "Old Drury " in the great production of
" The Comedy of Krrors." The deceased was a native of
Newcastle, and was 60 years of age.
Mr. Archibald Singers, of the firm of Singers and Co.,
vinegar manufacturers, Newcastle, died on the 31st of
January, at an advanced age.
On the 20th of January, Mr. Henry Philip Archibald
Buchanan Riddell, C.S.I., late of the Bengal Civil Ser-
vic«, died in London, at the age of 69 years ; and on the
30A, in the same city, died his sister, Jane Buchanan
Riddell, aged 77. Both were members of one of the oldest
and most respected families in the North of England.
Mr. James Stott, nurseryman, died at Alnwick, at the
advanced age of 90 years, on ihe 31st of January. He
wa« a pupil and friend of the late Rev. William Turner,
tht eminent Unitarian minister, of Newcastle, and for
nearly half a century he acted as pastor of the Unitarian
Church at Alnwick.
On the 1st of February, there were interred in Earsdon
Churchyard the remains of Mr. William Short, for fifty
ye»r» foreman engineer at East Holywell Colliery, who
had died at the age of 85 years.
Mr. Robert Utterson, cashier and court-keeper at the
Newcastle County Court, died on the 4th of February, at
the age of about 33 years.
On the 5th of February, Mr. James Outterside, a lead-
ing shipowner in the palmy days of wooden vessels, and a
prominent member of the Manchester Uuity of Odd-
fellows, died at South Hylton, in the 78th year of his age.
On the 5th of February was announced the death, as
having taken place at Chicago, U.S., on January 12, of
Mr. Andrew Paxton, formerly of Blaydon-on-Tyne, in
the county of Durham.
Dr. John Coatsworth Watson, a well-known medical
practitioner at Sunderland, died in that town on the 5th
of February.
In the Newcastle Daily Chronicle of February 7 was an-
nounced the death, which had taken place a few days pre-
viously in America, of Mr. George Searle Phillips, a
genleman at one time resident in this district. Better
known by his pseudonym of "January Searle," he was
born at Peterborough, Northamptonshire, in January,
1815, or 1816. Mr. Phillips took the degree of B.A. at
Cambridge. When he left the University, he gave him-
self up to literary pursuits, and, proceeding to America,
he wrote occasional articles for magazines and newspapers.
He did not, however, stay there long. Returning to this
country, he was, for a short time, connected with the
Leeds Times. But about the year 1845, he was appointed
secretary to the Huddersfield Mechanics' Institution,
which was then one of the most prosperous societies of the
kind in England. Under Mr. Phillips's energetic direc-
tions it achieved still greater success. When he was at
Huddersfield he associated himself with Dr. F. R. Lees
in the editorship of The Truth Seeker, and some of his
best writing is to be found in that magazine. After
leaving Huddersfield, he lectured in connection with the
Yorkshire Union of Mechanics' Institutions, and after-
wards as agent for the Northern Union of Mechanics
Institutions. A notable feature of his appearance was
the presence of a big black dog, which be had christened
"Satan," and which invariably accompanied him on the
platform. His first visit to Tyneside was about the-
year 1848, but it was only a short one. He came back
again afterwards, and resided two or three years, lectur-
ing at many of the Mechanics' Institutes, and writing
for various publications, local and national. Some
special contributions as to the social condition of the
people were written by him for the Newcastle Chronicle.
When he left Newcastle he joined for a season a gang
of gipsies. He embodied his impressions of them in an in-
teresting volume entitled "The Gipsies of the Dane's
Dyke." A favourable offer having been made to him by
some of his American acquaintances, he returned to the
States, and held a variety of appointments in connection
with the press there. About 1870, however, he had a severe
affliction, from the effects of which he never recovered.
In 1873, he was taken to Trenton Asylum for the Insane ;
but his case being declared to be hopeless, he was trans-
ferred, three years afterwards, to the Morristown Lunatic
Asylum, in New Jersey, where he ultimately died.
Dr. Matthew Brumell, who for a long time had been at
the h«ad of the medical profession at Morpeth, died, at
the age of 77, on the 8th of February.
On the 9th of February, Mr. Jasper Stephenson, who
was widely known throughout the North of England for
his breeding and feeding of black-faced sheep, died at the
residence of his son, Mr. Thomas A. Stephenson, Mill
Hills Farm, near Haydon Bridge. He was about 70
years of age.
at
©ccnrrentejs.
JANUARY.
14. — A sculling match was decided on the Tyne be-
tween George Phillips Telford, of Newcastle, and Henry
Follett, of Richmond, London, for £50 a-side, the course
being from Dunston Gangway to Scotswood Suspension
Marchl
1SSO. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
141
Bridge. The Metropolitan rower ultimately won by
half-a-length.
— At the final meeting of the executive committee of the
Bishop of Durham's Special Church Building Fund, at
Durham, it was stated that the sum raised in con-
nection with the fund had reached the grand total of
£134,915 15s. 6d.
15.— Mr. F. W. Wyndham, co-lessee of the Theatre
Royal, Newcastle, was entertained to a dinner, previous
to his departure on a visit to Australia. Accompanied
by Mrs. Wyndham, he left Newcastle on the 30th.
— A widow, named Louisa Gillespie, 32 years of age,
committed suicide by drowning herself in a vat of beer in
a brewery at Gateshead.
16. — The polling in connection with the election of
members of the Northumberland County Council took
place. The following is a complete list of the sixty
gentlemen composing the first Board : —
Mr. Adam Robertson, AInwick
Mr. Albert Grey, Embleton
Earl Percy, Lesbury
Rev. J. Bowron, Warkworth
Mr. R. H. Taylor, Hamburgh
Mr. G. D. A. Clark, Belford
Mr. W. O. Charlton, Bellinjrham
Mr. R. B. Sanderson, Otterburn
Aid. A. Darling, Berwick
Captain Forbes, Berwick
Mr. James Gilroy, Tweedmouth
and Spittal
Mr. J. R. Black, Islandshire
Mr. R. Nicholson, Norhamshire
Mr. H. N. Middleton, Belsay
Mr. S H. Farrer, Gosforth
Sir M. W. Ridley, Ponteland
Mr. J. W. Spencer, VValljottle
Mr. Jacob Wilson, Chatton
Mr. Watson Askew, Crookham
Mr. George Rea, Wooler
Mr. W. Hudspeth, Haltwhistle
Mr. J. Thompson, Plenmellor
Mr. T. Carnck, Alleudale and
Haydon Bridge
Mr. Hugh Fenwick, Corbridge
Mr. R. Stainthorpe, Hexham
Mr. J. M. Ridley, Humshaugh
Mr. G. A. Fenwick, Bywell
Mr. M. Liddell, Prudhoe
Mr. S. Stobbs, Slaley
Mr. R. Nicholson, Morpeth
Dr. James Trotter, Bedlington
Mr. And. Fairbairn, Bedlington
Mr. Geo. Grocock, Longhirst
Mr. J. B. Cookson, Netherwitton
Mr. W. Millons, Widdrington
Mr. W. Forster, Harbottle
Lord Armstrong, Rothbury
Mr. J. W. Pease, Benwell
Mr. R. M. Tate, Tynemouth
Mr. J. T. Davison, Tynemouth •
Mr. J. P. Spencer, Tynemouth
Mr. J. L. Gracie, Tynemouth
Mr. J. M. Winter, Tynemouth
Mr. Aaron Watson, Tynemouth
Mr. S. Morrison, Tynemouth
Mr. J. Eskdale, Tynemouth
Mr. R. Walton, Tynemouth
Mr. H. Richardson, Backworth
Mr. G. B. Forster, Blyth
Dr. Alex. Trotter, Cowpen
Mr. James Routledge, Cowpen
Mr. R. O. Lamb, Cramlington
Mr. M. Dodd, Longbenton, Weet-
slade, and Willington (,juay
Mr. J. Simmons, Longbenton,
Weetslade, and Willington
Quay
Mr. Jos. Snowball, Longbenton,
Weetslade, & Willington Quay
Mr. R. E. Ornesby, Seghill
Mr. J. W. Richai-dson, Walker
Col. H. F. Swan, Walker
Mr. H. H. Aitchison, \Vallsend
Mr. L. W. Adamson, Whitlcy
The first meeting of the Council was held in the Moot
Hall, Newcastle, on the 24th of January, when Sir
Matthew White Ridley, M.P., was unanimously elected
Provisional Chairman. The twenty gentlemen elected as
aldermen were : —
Sir M. W. Ridley
Mr. J. M. Winter
Mr. A. Darling
Mr. R. M. Tate
Mr. J. L. Gracie
Rev. Dixon- Brown
Mr. L. W. Adamson
Mr. George Rea
Mr. John Craster
Mr. Watson Askew
Mr. J. R. Carr-Ellison
Sir Edward Blackett
Mr. John Carr
Mr. James Black
Mr. Adam Robertson
Mr. George Anderson
Mr. L. C. Chrisp
Mr. H. H. Scott
Mr. R. Stainthorpe
Mr. W. O. Charlton
The second meeting of the Council was held in the Nisi
Priua Court at the Moot Hall, Newcastle, on the 14th of
February, when, on the motion '.of Earl Percy, seconded
by Lord Armstrong, Sir Matthew White Ridley, M.P.,
was unanimously elected chairman for the first year.
— Efforts to bring about a compromise having failed, the
shipyard workmen at Stockton and the Hartlepools
ceased work. On the 5th of February, however, an
amicable settlement was effected, the masters conceding
an advance of ?i per cent, in wages on all piece work, and
Is. 6d. per week on time wages. Work was recommenced
next day.
17. — A new water supply for Hexham, drawn from the
Ladle Well Springs, ten miles distant from the town, and
provided at an estimated cost of £10,000, was turned on
at the source by Mr. J. T. Robb, chairman of the Local
Board.
18. — The Durham Salt Company, Limited, was regis-
tered at Somerset House, with a capital of £80,000,
the field of operations being 63 acres of freehold land
adjoining Haverton Hill,
— It was officially announced that St. Mary's School,
Ryehill, Newcastle had been closed, under a recent local
Act of Parliament.
19.— A deputation of the Northumberland miners made
formal application for an advance of 10 per cent, in
wages ; and a joint committee, representing masters and
men, was appointed to deal with the question. The
masters subsequently offered a sliding scale, but this was
rejected by the men. The owners, on the 12th of Feb-
ruary, offered an advance of 7£ per cent, and another
advance of 2 per cent, on the standard in a month's time.
This proposal was submitted to the vote of tho men by
ballot.
— At an aggregate meeting of the Amalgamated Society
of Engineers in Newcastle, a resolution was unanimously
passed approving of the action of the Grand Committee
in applying for an advance of 2s. per week in wages, to
ccme into operation on the 4th of February. An amicable
compromise was arrived at between masters and men.
20. — Damage, to the extent of nearly £8,000, was
caused by a fire which broke- out in the grocery depart-
ment of the Co-operative Stores, Newgate Street, New-
castle.
— Mr. Charles Bradlaugh, M.P., lectured to an im-
mense audience in the Tyne Theatre, Newcastle, on tho
British Government of India.
21. — Fifteen persons were injured by a railway collision
at Carlisle.
— On this and the following day, Mr. J. H. Black-
burne, the famous chess-player, gave exhibitions of his
skill in the Art Gallery, Newcastle.
22. — Lady Eleanor Lambton, sister of the Earl of
Durham, was married to Lord Robert Cecil, third son of
the Marquis of Salisbury, the ceremony taking place in
St. George's Church, Hanover Square, London.
23. — Arrangements were concluded for the installation
of the electric light at Cowpen.
— The Prince and Princess of Wales visited Middles-
brough for the purpose of opening the new Town Hall
and Municipal Buildings. (See page 111.)
24. — It was announced in the Newcastle Daily Chronicle
that a communication had been received from the rela-
tives of Mrs. Lough, widow of the eminent sculptor, in-
timating that, in accordance with the last wishes of the
deceased lady, the whole of the remaining models and
statuary forming her private collection would be pre-
sented to the city of Newcastle, for addition to the Lough
Models in Elswick Hall.
24.— A terrible tragedy was enacted at Wrekenton, a vil-
lage at the extreme boundary of the borough of Gateshead.
The victim was John Graham, a member of the Gateshead
police force stationed at that place, who was suddenly sefc
upon by Edward Wilkinson, a butcher, who first stabbed
him, and then beat him to death with his own truncheon.
142
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/March
X 1889.
On the morning of the same day, the man Wilkinson had
been fined at Gateshead for disorderly conduct, on evi-
dence given by the unfortunate officer. The perpetrator
of the shocking crime was arrested at a late hour in the
«vening at South Hylton. On the 30th a verdict of wilful
murder was returned by the coroner's jury against Wil-
kinson, whom the magistrates, on the 1st of February,
committed for trial on that charge.
— The 130th anniversary of the birth of the Scottish
poet Robert Burns was celebrated by a dinner, held
under the auspices of the Newcastle and Tyneside Burns
Club, at the County Hotel, the chair being occupied by
Mr. Councillor Adam Carse.
25. — The election of members for the Durham County
Council took place, there being 72 divisions, each return-
ing one councillor. The following gentlemen were re-
turned : —
Mr. Theodore Fry, Darlington
Mr. Ed. D. Walker, Darlington
Mr. Arthur Pease, Darlington
Mr. J. L. Wharton.M.P., Durham
Mr. Francis Greenwell. Durham
Mr. T. Richardson, Hartlepool
Mr. John Horsley, Hartlepool
Major Gray, West Hartlepool
Mr. Jonathan Samuel, Stockton
Mr. J. A. I'ease, Crook
Earl of Durham, Lamhton
Lt.-Col. Sheppee, Birtley
Mr. C. E. Hunter, Edmondsley
Mr. John Feetham, Ayeliffe
Mr. Wm. Robinson, Sherburn
Mr. G. 11. Wraith, Tudhoe
Marquis of Londonderry, Seaham
Mr. Wm. Armstrong, Thornley
Mr. W. F. Hall, llaswell
Lt.-Col. A. S. Palmer, Felling
Mr. W. W. Pattinson, Felling
Mr. J. B. Simpson, Kyton
Earl of Ravensworth, Whickham
Mr. Jas Annandale, Benfieldside
Mr. J. A. Curry, Collierly
Mr. W. J. Joicey, Tanfleld
Mr. C. F. Former, Hebburn
Mr. Thos. W. Stewart. Hebburn
Mr. E. ,1. J. Browell, Wustoe
Mr. J, W. Page- Page, Norton
Mr. Robt Thompson, Southwick
Mr. W. T. Soarth, Teesdale
Mr. W. H. Richardson, Jarrow
Mr. Richd. Handvsirle, Jarrow
Mr. A. M. Palmer, Jarrow
Mr. C. Furncss, West Hartlepool
Mr. W. H. Fisher, W. Hartlepool
Mr. Thos. Nelson, Stockton
Mr Jos. Richardson, Stockton
Mr. Timothy Crosby, Stockton
Mr. J. Lingford, Bp. Auckland
Mr. George Pears, Shildon
Rev. E. A. Wilkinson, Spenny-
moor
Mr. W. Lishman, West Auckland
Mr. W. R. I. Hopkins, Witton-
le-Wear
Mr. Thos. Douglas, Hunwick
Mr. Ralph Peverell, Eldon
Mr. N. R Lamb, Coundon
Mr. James Lisle, Washington
Mr. T. Koliaon, Chester-le-Street
Mr. S. Galbraith, Brandon
Mr. A. W. Elliott, Willington
Mr. John Shiel, Elvet
Mr. R. Armstrong, Easington
Col. J. A. Cowen, Blaydon
Major R, Burdon, Greatham
Mr. Frank Stobart, Houghton
Mr. John Wilson, Herrington
Mr. Lindsav Wood, Hetton
Mr. V. C. S.'W. Corbett, Rainton
Mr. Wm. Jenkins, Consett
Mr. George Nicholson, Leadgate
Mr. Utri<-k A. Ritson, Manchester
Col. Leadbitter, Esh
Mr. William Morson, Ferryhill
Mr. E. G. Marshall, Sedge'tidd
Mr. W. Palmer, Bishopwearui'th.
Mr. L. A. Gregson, Ryhope
Mr. W. Watson, Barnard Castle
Mr. Thos. Livingstone, Stanhope
Mr Joseph Ridley, Wolsintrhara
Mr. W. J. Oliver, Darlington.*
The first meeting of the Council was held on the 7th of
February, in the Court Buildings, at Durham. Mr. John
Lloyd Wharcon was unanimously elected Provisional
Chairman. The Council then proceeded to the election of
the 24- aldermen, the result being as follows : —
Sir 11 llavelork-Allan
Mr. H. J. Beckwith
Mr. Thomas Bell
Colonel John A. Cowen
Mr. Wm. Crawford, M.P.
Mr. David Dale
Earl of Durham
Mr. Theodore Fry, M.P.
Mr. Wm. Jenkins
Mr. W. J. Joice.v
Mr. James Laing
Marquis of Londonderry
Mr. R. Old
Mr. Arthur Pease
Earl of Ravensworth
Mr. Joseph Richardson
Mr. Ralph Richardson
Mr. W. H. Richardson.
Mr. U. A. Ritson
Rev. A. D. Shaftoe
Mr. John Shields
Mr. John Lloyd Wharton
Sir H. Williamson
Rev. O. P. Wilkinson
26. — It was found that an advance of 1£ per cent, in
the wages of the Durham miners had accrued under the
sliding scale arrangement.
27.— Under the auspices of the Tyneside Sunday Lec-
* This gentleman was eventually declared by the Local Govern-
ment Board to have been duly elected for the South Ward, Dar-
lington, the announcement of the death of Mr. Aid. Lucas Pease,
the other candidate, having been received shortly after the poll
bad been opened.
ture Society, Mr John Augustus O'Shea, a well-known
newspaper correspondent, delivered a lecture in the Tyne
Theatre, on "Explorers I have Known." The chair was
occupied by Mr. Alderman M'Dermott, of Gateshead.
— Late at night, a serious fire broke out at the works of
the North of England School Furnishing Company,
Limited, Darlington. The premises were almost com-
pletely destroyed. About half-past ten, a section of a
gable end, which the fire had not reached, fell upon the
crowd standing below, killing two persons on the spot — a
man named Hogg and another called Thomas Boddy,
while a third man, named Thompson, died shortly after-
wards. Robert Wilson, a workman in the company's
establishment, died from the effects of injuries on the fol-
lowing day ; while Lionel Stainsby, a fifth victim, suc-
cumbed on the 30th. On the 4th of February, a lad,
named James Ham, died. The accident also led to a fatal
result in the case of Ralph Smith, on the 7th, and in that
of Robert Hall on the 9th, making in all eight deaths
from the sad occurrence.
— At Alnwick Police Court, four policemen, named
Harrison, Chambers, Sprott, and Gair, were charged
with conspiring to give false evidence at the trial of Bran-
nagan and Murphy, in connection with the Edlingham
Burglary, in 1879. The hearing concluded on the 1st of
February, when Harrison, Sprott, and Gair were com-
mitted to the assizes for trial, Chambers being discharged
30. — The lifeless body of Mr. William Robinson, rate
collector, Jarrow, was found in the Felling Pit Pond.
31. — It was announced that the personalty of the late
Colonel H. J. Trotter, M.P., who died on the 6th of
December last, had been sworn at £66,176 19s. lOd.
FEBRUARY.
1. — On this and the following day, Lord George Hamil-
ton, First Lord of the Admiralty, paid a visit to New-
castle, and officially inspected the Elswick Works of Sir
W. G. Armstrong and Co.
— Mr. Fred L. Moir, manager of the African Lakes
Trading Company, lectured in Newcastle, under the
auspices of the Tyneside Geographical Society, on "The
Slave Trade of Nyassaland," the chair being occupied by
the Mayor (Mr. Thomas Richardson).
March!
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
143
2. — On this and the following day, a severe gale of wind
and rain raged in Newcastle and district, and on the 3rd,
the schooner Alert, of Montrose, ran ashore at Blyth,
the captain, Mr. James Carr, being drowned.
3. — Professor John Stuart Blackie, of Edinburgh, de-
livered a lecture in the Tyne Theatre, Newcastle, on
"Burns," in connection with the Tyneside Sunday
Lecture Society. Mr. Joseph Baxter Ellis, ex-SheriiF,
presided.
— A collision took place in the English Channel, be-
tween the steamer Nereid, of Newcastle, and the Scot-
tish ship Killochan, both vessels sinking within a few
minutes of the crash. Of the 17 men composing the crew
of the former, 11 were rescued. The crew of the other
vessel consisted of 25 hands, of whom nine were saved, but
one man— John Stephen, a negro — died shortly after-
wards of exhaustion.
4. — The Right Hon. John Morley, M.P., and Mr. James
Craig, M.P., addressed their constituents in the Town
Hall, Newcastle, and received a vote of confidence.
5. — In the London Gazette was printed the text of
an Order in Council constituting a new parish of Jes-
mond, Newcastle, to be called the District Chapelry of
St. George's. On the evening of the 10th, the Bishop of
Newcastle instituted the Rev. Canon Pennefather as vicar
of the new parish. On the same occasion his lordship
dedicated the ring of eight bells which had been presented
by Mr. Charles Mitchell, of Jesmond Towers, the donor
of the church. They had been manufactured by Messrs.
John Taylor and Co., of Loughborough, Leicestershire.
— A report was presented at the fifth annual meeting of
the Bishop Newcastle's Fund, under the presidency of
Mr. Albert Grey, showing that something like £70,000
had been subscribed ; and it was resolved, on the motion
of Mr. James Joicey, M.P., to continue the effort, and
add the other £30,000 to complete the scheme of church
extension.
— Mrs. Fulton, wife of a labourer at Sunderland, gave
birth to three children— two boys and a girl. One of the
boys was, however, still-born, and the girl shortly after-
wards died.
6. — A verdict of "wilful murder" was returned by a
coroner's jury at Sunderland, against a young girl named
Mary Elizabeth Stockdale, whose child, Robert Stock-
dale, 14- months old, had been found drowned in a pond
in that town.
7. — The annual dinner of the Bewick Club was held in
the large room of the Exhibition, Pilgrim Street, New-
castle, under the presidency of Mr. H. H. Emmerson.
On the following evening the Exhibition was opened by
the Mayor of Newcastle.
— The Rev. Frank Smith was welcomed as the first
minister of the Jesmond Baptist Church, Newcastle.
8. — A terrific gale prevailed over Newcastle and the
North of England.
9. — A society, to be called the United Tyne District
Labourers' Association, was formed in Newcastle.
10. — The premises of Messrs. Heclley and Co., drapers
and outfitters, Linthorpe Road, Middlesbrough, were de-
stroyed by fire, the damage being estimated at £30,000.
—At the Tyne Theatre, Mr. Henry Blackburn, editor
of " Academy Notes," lectured under the auspices of the
Tyneside Sunday Lecture Society, on "Pictures of the
Year : the Royal Academy and the Paris Salon, " the
chair being occupied by Mr. R. Jobling, vice-president of
the Bewick Club.
— James Robinson, a boy 14 years of age, was drowned
while endeavouring to rescue another lad, named John
Elliott, who, on the ice giving way, had fallen into a pond
at Spen Colliery, Elliott being afterwards saved by some
men.
144
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/March
I 188'J.
11. — The Claimant in the celebrated Tichborne case
appeared and delivered an address in the Gaiety Theatre,
Newcastle.
(general ©crarreneejs.
JANUARY.
16. — A German mission station at Tuga, Zanzibar, was
attacked by Arabs. Many missionaries were killed and
barbarously mutilated.
18. — An explosion occurred at Hyde Colliery, near
Chester, when nearly thirty men lost their lives.
— An election of a Parliamentary representative in
the place of Sir William Pearce (Liberal Unionist)
took place at Govan. The result was as follows : — John
Wilson (Gladstonian), 4,420 ; Sir John Fender (Liberal
Unionist), 3,349 ; majority, 1,071.
24.— Mr. William O'Brien, M.P., was to be tried at
Carrick-on-Suir, Ireland, for offences under the Crimes
Act. Owing to a disturbance, the magistrates ordered
the court to be cleared. A disorderly scene ensued, in
the course of which Mr. O'Brien left the court, despite
the efforts of the police to prevent him. Mr. O'Brien
eluded capture till the 29th, when he was arrested in Man-
chester, and thence transferred to an Irish prison.
25. — A telegram announced that an English missionary
and sixteen followers had been murdered near Tan-
ganyika, East Africa, by Arabs.
26. — General Boulanger was elected for the Department
of the Seine, France, by a majority of 81,550.
—Death of Archduke Rudolph, Crown Prince of
Austria. At first it was reported that death arose from
apoplexy, but it was afterwards revealed that he had
FEBRUARY.
2.— Miss Susan Cobbett died at Farnham Villa,
Wilmslow, near Macclesfield, at the age of 81. The
deceased lady was the youngest daughter of the late
William Cobbett, the editor of The Political Register.
Mr. Cobbett had four sons, and three, if not more,
daughters. Mr. William Cobbett, the eldest son, was
well-known for his long quarrel with the law courts.
He was imprisoned for contempt, and he and his wife
made repeated and ingenious attempts to secure his
release without complying with the stipulation of the
judges. Mr. James Paul Cobbett, the second son, was
a barrister. It was to him his father wrote the
famous letters that constituted "Cobbett's Grammar."
The third son, Mr. John Morgan Cobbett, married a
daughter of Mr. Fielden, the well-known supporter of
the Ten Hours Bill, and was for several years member
for Oldham. Mr. Richard B. B. Cobbett was a solicitor
in large practice in Manchester. The two youngest
daughters, Susan and her sister, for several years lived,
in modest competency, at Wilmslow. The elder of the
two sisters still survives. (For an account of Cobbett's
visits to the Northern Counties, see vol. i., p. 467.)
3.— During the arrest of Father McFadden, at Gwee-
dore, Ireland, Inspector Martin, of the Irish police, was
beaten to death by a mob. Several arrests were after-
wards made.
5-13.— Evidence of a startling character was given before
the Parnell Commission by Major Le Caron, otherwise
taken his own life. The most remarkable rumours were
current for a time, and the rash act was ascribed to an
improper alliance with a lady.
Thomas Willis Beach, who had been in intimate associa-
tion with the Irish secret societies in America, but had
had all the time been in communication with the British
Government.
Printed by WALTER SCOTT, Felling-on-Tyne.
tlbe
Chronicle
OF
NORTH-COUNTRY*LORE*AND*LEGEND
VOL. III.— No. 26.
APRIL, 1889.
PRICE GD.
at 23itflric& antt tfte
at
j|HE battle of Culloden decided finally and
fatally the fortunes of the young Pretender.
Amongst the families of the Scottish
nobility who took part in this great last
attempt to restore the house of Stuart to the throne of
Britain was that of Drummond, Earls of Perth. This
family was at that time represented by James Drummond,
the sixth earl. His grandfather, the fourth earl, had been
created Duke of Perth by James II. ; but this was done
after that monarch's abdicatiou. So our hero was sixth
earl, or, if you have Jacobite sympathies, third Duke of
Perth.
At the battle of Prestonpans, and at the sieges of
Carlisle and Stirling, Drummond commanded a detach-
ment of the rebel army, and at Culloden he is said to
have led the left wing of the Pretender's forces, which
was principally formed of the clan of Macdonald. When
swords were drawn and guns fired, the right wing, led by
Lord George Murray, rushed to the onslaught. The
Macdonalds considered themselves insulted by this mili-
tary movement, and, in their vexation, hacked the turf
beneath their feet with their swords. Drummond endea-
voured to soothe their wrath, telling them that, if they
fought with the bravery of their clan, they would make
their left wing the right wing, and, in honour of their
'deeds, he would ever after call himself a Macdonald.
But the fortunes of the day were against the rebel prince.
The clans led by Gordon rushed forward to be slaughtered.
The battle was brief, but bloody. And when, at last, the
rebel ranks turned and fled, the Macdonalds and their
leader fled also.
The Earl of Perth fled from the field on horseback.
He rode on till the darkness of night covered the land,
and then sought a hiding-place amongst friends. For a
time he remained in concealment in Scotland. It is said
that he even returned to Drummond Castle, where his
widowed mother then resided. The castle itself was less
safe than the neighbouring woods, in which he spent most
of his time, always disguised, and often strangely so. He
was sometimes seen, by persons who recognised him, in
female dress, barefooted and bareheaded. Meantime, he
and his brother, and other rebel lords of Scotland, were
attainted of high treason by Act of Parliament. One day
a search party came to the castle, expecting to find the
earl there. Their arrival was unexpected, and he had no-
time to escape. At length they came to the room where
he was. When he heard them at the door, he stepped
into a closet in the wall, before which a domestic planted
herself and stood motionless until the searchers had gone
elsewhere. Drummond then came from his hiding-
place, clambered through the window, and gained the
trackless woods.
This and other adventures convinced him of the
necessity of leaving his native land. He succeeded in
reaching a vessel bound for the Tyne, and landed at
South Shields. From Shields he went to Sunderland,
where he remained for a time, but at length removed to
South Biddick, a village on the Wear — an abode principally
of pitmen, but a place noted in traditions of the past for
its smuggling propensities, and for its unlicensed manu-
facture of spirituous liquors.
All this had occurred in less than a year from the fatal
10
146
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
day of Culloden. The earl's only brother, John Drum-
mood, involved like himself in tha young Pretender's
rebellion, and included in the same Act of attainder, had
fled to France, and was now at Boulogne. From thence
he addressed a letter to his brother at Biddick, dated the
16th of April, 1747 — exactly a year after the battle of
Culloden — in which he said: — "I think you had better
come to France, and you would be out of danger, as I
find you are living in obscurity at Hough ton-le-Spring."
(Biddick was then in the parish of Houghton.) "I doubt
that is a dangerous place yet. . . . You say it is
reported you died on your passage to France. I
hope and trust you will still live in obscurity." The
brothers continued to correspond for a time, but
John Drummond died at Antwerp in the same year, 1747,
having never been married.
When the Earl of Perth settled at Biddick, he took up
his abode in the family of one John Armstrong, "persons
in a very humble situation, but of reputable character."
Armstrong was a pitman, and the motives which led
Drummond to seek a residence in his family are believed
to have been, first, to allay suspicion of his rank by the
humble character of his surroundings ; and, second, the
consideration of the facilities a pitman might afford him,
in case of need, to find a secure hiding-place in the
recesses of a coal mine.
Drummond, with a view to sustain his slender finances,
now turned his attention to trade, and became a vendor of
shoes. In this enterprise he did not succeed. Between
the importunity of his creditors and the impecuniosity of
his debtors, he found himself fast going to the wall, and,
to avoid complete ruin, gave up his small business.
Between the Earl of Perth and the humble people
with whom he dwelt a cordial and sincere friendship
sprung up. To John Armstrong and his wife Drum-
mond had entrusted the secret of his rank, and in conse-
quence they took the most vivid interest in his forlorn
fortunes. But this was not all. They had a daughter,
Elizabeth, named after her mother. She is described as
a girl " of exquisite beauty, and amiable disposition and
manners." She had only reached about her fourteenth
summer when Drummond entered her father's household.
He conceived a strong affection for the girl, which she as
ardently returned — a result to which her lover's romantic
career no doubt contributed not a little. On the 6th of
November, 1749, there was a wedding in the church of
Houghton-le-Spring, and the Earl of Perth was married
to the pretty daughter of the pitman of Biddick. The
earl was thirty-six and the countess seventeen.
For a time the newly-married couple still continued to
live in Armstrong's house ; but by and bye a baby was
born, and Nicholas Lambton, of Biddick Hall, who
seems to have learned the story of Drummond's
life, gave the unfortunate earl the Boat House of
Biddick for a residence. The occupant of this
house had charge of the ferry-boat which here plied
across the Wear. The earl became a ferryman, and in
the Boat House he established in a limited way the busi-
ness of a country shopkeeper — one of those modest mer-
cantile establishments where almost everything of small
cost, in every branch of mercery, grocery, and mongery,
can be purchased. With the combined profits of the shop
and the ferry he brought up, in a humble but respectable
way, a family of six or seven children, 'all born within a
dozen years after his marriage. So far as the father's
time permitted he diligently endeavoured to educate his
offspring, and even at one time formed the ambitious
project that his eldest son, James, should become a clergy-
man. He had not, however, the means to afford him the
requisite scholastic training, but was compelled to send
him to work in the coal pits.
The second son, William, was sent to sea, and, in time
became mate, and afterwards master of a vessel, of
which latterly he was also part owner. During a pas-
sage to London, he had the misfortune to be run down by
another ship. The master and all hands were lost. The
collision was characterised by details of most horrible
character. The vessel which ran into Drummond's ship
appears to have been practically uninjured, and might
have rescued most, if not all, of the shipwrecked crew.
Some of these unfortunate men swam to the surviving
vessel and clambered up its sides, but were beaten off by
its sailors, who, for this murderous purpose, had armed
themselves with handspikes and other weapons. This
worse than barbarous inhumanity was perpetrated by the
crew at the command of the master, whose carelessness
had occasioned the calamity, in order that no one from
the wrecked ship should live to tell the story. These
facts were afterwards made known by a boy who was on
the vessel that escaped. Steps were taken to bring the
murderers to justice; but the lapse of time and the ab-
sence of sufficient evidence rendered this impracticable.
It has been said that at thetimeofWilliam Drummond's
death at sea, he had with him a number of family papers
and other documents which related to his father's
title and claims to the earldom of Perth. If this was
actually the case, they were irrecoverably lost.
The earl had been the occupant of Biddick Boat House
a little more than twenty years, when a most disastrous
flood occurred throughout the North of England. This
was during the night of the 17th of November, 1771. The
boat-house was carried away by the torrent. The lives
of its occupants even were in the greatest danger. But
the ferry-boat, which had been so long a means of adding
to their income, stood them in good stead now. By its
means Drummond carried his family to a place of
safety, and their little homestead was left to its
fate. When the flood had subsided, it was found
that scarcely a single article of furniture had been
saved. Amongst all the treasures, however, which they
had lost, that which they chiefly regretted was a chest
This chest contained " a tanned leather pouch, or bag.
April 1
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
H7
or paper case, with three pockets, wherein were con-
tained his (Drummond's) memorandm book, various
family papers, letters, documents, &c. ; amongst which was
a Ducal Patent of Nobility, as it was called when spoken
of by him to the family, and also a favourite diamond
ring, all which things had belonged to the Drummond
family." The loss of these articles was deeply regretted,
for it seems to have been at all times a hope amongst
Drummond's family that the day would come when they
might claim the lands of their ancient inheritance, and
when these documents would be of the greatest value as
evidence of their title. The " Ducal Patent of Nobility "
is supposed to have been the original patent granted by
James II. when he created James Drummond, the fourth
earl, the Duke of Perth. So anxious was the sixth earl
to recover this document that he spent many days in
wandering along the shores of the Wear, hoping to find
it. He was doomed to disappointment.
More than once after the earl took up his abode at
Biddick, he returned in disguise to his native land, and
visited the scenes of his early life. On one occasion he
went to Drummond Castle, and asked the housekeeper to
conduct him through the apartments. She complied with
his request, humming as she went from room to room,
"The Duke of Perth's Lament." When he reached the
apartment which once was his own, he cried out, " This
is the duke's own room," and burst into tears. At
another time, when he was disguised as a beggar, ne
entered the house of a garrulous weaver, probably to
gather up the traditions and gossip of the district. The
clock struck. " What do you think of a machine like that
in a poor weaver's house ?" exclaimed the man of warp
and woof. To which the earl, taking out his massive
ancestral gold watch, replied, "What do you think of a
thing like that in a poor beggar's pocket ?"
Towards the close of his life Drummoud was seized by a
strone desire once more to visit the home of his fathers.
To effect a full disguise a soldier's old red coat was pur-
chased at Newcastle by his wife. Attired in this, he set
out. In the neighbourhood of Drummond Castle he made
himself known to various persons in whom he had confi-
dence, and, amongst others, to a Mr. Graeme. His friend
induced him to lay aside, at least whilst his guest, the
soldier's coat, and lent him one in its place which better
befitted his true rank. Throughout his career he seems
to have maintained the bearing of a nobleman ; for, no
sooner was the beggar's disguise put off and the dress of
a gentleman assumed, than a lady who was present in-
voluntarily exclaimed, "the duke looks like himself
again." It was no doubt his distinguished figure which
led General Lambton, the relative of. Nicholas Lambtaa,
Drummond's benefactor, to exclaim one day on meeting
him, far more in jest than in earnest, " Ah, you are the
rebel Drummond ; 111 have you beheaded." Nicholas
himself is said to have employed a similar but milder form
of greeting. " I know you well enough ; you are one of the
Drummonds, the rebels, but the Boat House and garden
are yours for all that." .
The inevitable lot of humanity <jame at length to the
fallen Earl of Perth. He died at Biddick early in June,
1782, in his seventieth year, and was buried at Painshaw
Church.
Two years after the death of James Drummond, sixth
Earl of Perth, the Act of attainder passed soon after the
young Pretender's rebellion was repealed, and another
Act was passed to enable George III. to restore forfeited
estates to the heirs of attainted persons. The Act itself,
in most cases, states who these heirs were, but the heirs
of the Earl of Perth had not been ascertained. It, there-
fore, declares only "That it shall and may be lawful
to his Majesty, his Heirs and Successors, to give, grant,
and dispose to the Heirs Male of the said John
Drummond all and every the lands.
lordships, baronies, fisheries, tithes, patronages, and other
heritages and estates, which became forfeited ....
by the attainder of the said John Drummond." The Act
was evidently framed under the belief that James Drum-
mond, the sixth earl, had died before his younger brother
John.
If, at this point in the story, the sixth earl's eldest son,
James Drummond, then a pitman at Biddick, had come
forward and asserted his claims, the subsequent course of
events might have been very different from what it was.
But he did not. He is represented as being deterred
from doing this by several reasons. He was, in the first
place, to a large extent, unacquainted with passing
events. In addition to this he was extremely poor, and
scarcely able to afford a shilling for any purpose except
the maintenance of his family. But he appears princi-
pally to have been deterred from making any claim by a
timidity of disposition which was probably fostered by
the secluded life which his father had necessarily led.
He lived to the age of 70 years, and died at Biddick on
the 7th February, 1823, and was buried near his father at
Painshaw Church.
During this long period, however, other claimants had
not been idle. Soon after the repeal of the Act of at-
tainder, one Captain James Drummond came forward,
and represented himself as the direct lineal descendant
and nearest heir male of James, fourth Earl of Perth.
At this time the sixth earl and his brother were both be-
lieved to have died shortly after the battle of Culloden,
and the descendants of their grandfather were, in conse-
quence, regarded as their heirs-at-law. This Captain
Drummond appears to "have been able to bring forward
evidence which satisfied the Court of Session that he was
heir to the earldom ef Perth, and on payment of a fine of
£52,547 Is. 6id., the estates of the Drummonds were
granted to him by the king.
It has been asserted that this Captain Drummond
attained the estates by personating an individual
who died at Lisbon four or five years before
148
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
I April
the claim was made, and who was the real heir
of the fourth Earl of Perth. But as this question does
not affect the claim of the pitman's family of Biddick, we
need not stay to discuss it. Tbis Captain James Drum-
mond, whoever he might be in reality, was afterwards
created Lord Perth, and died in 1800, leaving an only
daughter, who afterwards married Lord Gwydyr.
The second James Drummond of Biddick left a family,
of whom the eldest son was Thomas Drummond, a man
of very different disposition from that of his father. He
inherited the traditions of his family, and, soon after his
father's death, devoted himself diligently to the accumu-
lation of evidence of his heirshlp to the earldom of Perth.
The first Lord Durham is known to have believed in
Drumniond's claim, and to have aided him in collecting
evidence and pursuing his cause. In June, 1831, the case
came on for hearing at the Cannongate Court Room,
Edinburgh, when the jury unanimously decided that
Thomas Drummond, of Biddick, was "nearest and lawful
heir male of his deceased great-granduncle, Lord Edward
Drummond," and so had every legitimate claim to the
earldom of Perth and the estates of the Drummonds.
The time was now approaching when the case was to
come before the House of Lords. The Earl of Durham
was ready to exert himself in every way in the claimant's
favour. Unfortunately, however, at this point, Drum-
mond incurred his patron's displeasure. The pitman was
"a tolerable performer on the violin," which he used to
carry with him into public-houses, and entertain his
friends with stories of his family history, interspersed
with musical performances. The company freely paid
for his liquor, and he ceased to be a sober man. He used
to tell them that, when he came to his estates, "worth
eighty thousand a year," he would set them all right.
But this was not all. Drummond must be prepared to
appear at the bar of the House of Lords;
so a dress suit was procured for him. Anxious
to impress the villagers of Biddick with his finery,
he displayed himself in the lane dressed as he in-
tended to appear before the Lords in London. Alas !
the roughs of Biddick assailed him, and tore his swallow-
tailed coat to shreds. The night before he was to appear
at the House of Lords, the Earl of Durham's butler, in a
mischievous lark, plied him with as much wine as he
could induce him to swallow. The consequence was that,
when he was summoned into the earl's room, he was
"drunk and incapable." Lord Durham was disgusted, and
refused to have anything further to do with the claimant.
The case was at length heard in the House of Lords,
but the decision of the peers was against the pitman.
The claimant died on the 18th November, 1873, at the
age of 81 years. Some of his descendants still live in the
neighbourhood of Biddick, but have wisely refrained from
reviving their claims, except perhaps in the fireside gossip
of the village.
I have told the story of the Earldom of Perth as it was
told by the Drummonds, pitmen of Biddick. There it,
of course, another version. The printed genealogies of
the family state that James Drummond, the sixth earl,
died on board the vessel in which he and his brother had
embarked for France, shortly after the battle of Oulloden.
There seems, in the case printed on behalf of the Biddick
claimant, to be strong evidence against thi» state-
ment. On the other hand, Robert Chambers, in his
"History of the Rebellion," mentions that in the chapel
of the English Nuns at Antwerp, where John Drummond,
the sixth earl's brother, was buried, there are elegantly
expressed Latin epitaphs on both brothers. The epitaph
on James Drummond, the sixth earl, is strong evidence
that he was actually dead at the time when it was
inscribed, which was, I take it, shortly after the death of
his brother. If this be granted, there is no ground left on
which to call in question the award of the Drummond
estates made in 1785, unless, indeed, it be contended that
the Captain James Drummond who then claimed and
had his claim allowed, was a personator. But, if this
even were assumed, it would in no way affect the case of
the pitmen of Biddick. J. R. BOYLE, F.S.A.
Chartidt
I HE illustration of a Chartist spear, copied
from a sketch kindly made by Mr. W. H.
Knowles, architect, recalls to memory the
political turmoil that accompanied the agitation for
reform in the first quarter of the nineteenth century. In
the North of England especially the " physical force "
part of the movement is associated with the hardy
blacksmith community which had grown up at Win-
laton. The organization of the great Crowley
establishment at that village* was originally carried
out on lines upholding Church and King in a
highly orthodox fashion. Even the celebration of
the North-Country "bonefire" was altered from
Midsummer Day, and made an annual festival in loyal
commemoration of Royal Oak Day. But the com-
munistic principles which had been fostered under the
system of working grew apace in latter days ; and
"Crowley's Crew" developed a school of independent
and unorthodox political thought in striking contrast
with the ways of the older time.
It was thus that the movement for reform in Parlia-
ment found staunch adherents in the Blacksmith
City. The Winlaton men had indeed "thews and
sinews like their ancestors," and as they were
also the cunningest of craftsmen in ironwork they
naturally expressed their feelings and prepared to
* For »n account of Growler's Crew, see Monthly Chronicle,
vol. ii.,' page 97.
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
149
enforce their claims
weapons made by
at the point of formidable
their own hands. These
home-made arms were turned out in hundreds.
Fowling-pieces were craftily acquired.
Pattereeriet (the survival of the ancient
paterero, or ship's cannon) were also
obtained, and no less than fourteen of
them were ready for use. Hand-gren-
ades were ingeniously constructed from
the strong stoneware material of empty
blacking bottles. These were wrapped
in stout canvas bags, filled with cuttings
of nailrods and gunpowder, and then
fitted with a fuse passing through the
cork. But the characteristic weapons
were those forged on the anvil by the
Winlaton men themselves, and these
were of three kinds. The " craa's foot "
(the caltrop of the military strategist)
was produced in large quantities. It
was like a spur made with four sharp
points arranged in triangular form, so
that when thrown on the ground three
points formed the base, and left a single
deadly point upright. These contri-
vances were intended to be sown thickly
on the roads to impede the passage of
cavalry. There was also the " pike," a
light iron head, made like a halbert in
shape, with a sharp thrusting point at
the end. It had two edges, with an axe
on one face, and a sharp, bent, knife-
edged spur on the other. The pike had
a short handle, and it could be concealed
on the person. Its use was intended to
be that of cutting the bridle of a cavalry
soldier with the knife-like projection,
and of either thrusting with the point,
or giving a blow with the axe-faced
side. The third weapon fabricated was
the formidable arm here illustrated. It
was a spear-head, and was socketed on
a staff about eight or nine feet loner.
The one here shown was forged by Mr.
George Marshall, of Winlaton, who emi-
grated to the United States in March,
1840. It is a really fine specimen
of smith- work "off the hammer," no
finish having been put upon it after it left the anvil. For
fifty years this weapon has been preserved in the possession
of the family from whom it was obtained for presentation
to the Black Gate Museum, Newcastle, where it now rests.
It is at once an evidence of the skilful handicraft of the
smith who wrought it, and a vivid memento of a turbulent
time gone by.
It will occur to anyone that these arms of the " physical
force Chartists " were, after all, not weapons of offence,
but of defence. Pike, and crowfoot, and spear were chiefly
intended for protection from a charge of cavalry, and,
happily, the history of the movement does not record the
use of these weapons in actual conflict. That the men
who bore them were resolute admits of little question,
notwithstanding the many stories current to the contrary.
It has, for instance, bean alleged that on slight occasion
panic prevailed, and that they were then in the condition
of Falstaff and his army-
Scattered and possessed with fear
So strongly that they dare not meet each other ;
Each takes his fellow for an officer.
But the men of Winlaton were no such cowards when
they appeared as a community in arms. Their prepara-
tions were made with the calmest care, and were planned
with all the forethought of a well disciplined organiza-
tion. Every man had his post, knew his instructions,
and was exercised in the use of his means of defence.
That this was the case is shown by an episode in which
the agitation may be said to have culminated. It has
been described as "A Memorable Night at Winlaton,"
and has been so graphically told by one who was there
that it must be given in his own words.
The narrator is Mr. Isaac Jeavons, the respected secre-
tary of the Blacksmiths' Friendly Society. "Late at
night, or at early morning," Mr. Jeavons relates, "two
of the Newcastle Chartists arrived at Winlaton.
They brought news that cavalry were coming to
search the village for arms. The fife and drum
immediately went round the town to arouse the inhabit-
ants. The patereeries, fourteen in number, were fired
with blank cartridge, then loaded with grape shot, and
planted on the Sandhill ready for action. Men were told
off, in twos and threes, to all the roads leading into the
village. Each party had a gun, and their orders were
that, if they should see or hear the approaching cavalry,
the gun had to be fired. This was the signal for all out-
lying sentinels to fall back and take up their places
in the town. Two of the Winlaton leaders being
marked by the authorities, were advised to keep out of
the way. One of them
was Edward Summer-
side, who had been in-
carcerated for selling
unstamped newspapers;
the other was Ellison
Clark. Men with fowl-
ing-pieces loaded with
ball took up allotted
positions, each man in
his place. Hand gren-
ades and crow feet were
all planted ready for action. All pikes and spear
heads not required for immediate use, were stowed
away and hidden. The places of the two leading
Chartists, who had been urged away, were taken
"A OEAA poor."
150
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
I April
I 1989.
by earnest men who were seen going about from place
to place conversing in undertones with the men at
their various posts. Happily, the news brought from
Newcastle proved to be a false alarm, and the excitement
subsided as daylight appeared. The episode, however,
formed a turning point in the history of the movement at
Winlaton, for after this some of the Chartists there began
to lose faith in the Newcastle branch, and the agitation
gradually began to subside. "
Mr. Jeavons well remembers two of the general
leaders of the Chartist movement. "During the agi-
tation," he says, " Mr. George Julian Harney used
to stop in Winlaton for weeks together. Mr. Harney
was well known and greatly respected among the men for
his genial conversation and manners. His buoyant youth,
his hearty laugh, his favourite song, and the very tone
and accent of his voice are recollected. The great
Chartist lecturer, Dr. Taylor, was for some time concealed
here, when there was a warrant out for his apprehension ;
L~t it began to be suspected that he was in Winlaton, and
he was in consequence sent away to Alston or its neigh-
bourhood, where soon after he was apprehended and im-
prisoned."
This narrative of an eye-witness enables ns to realize
vividly how near to our own days and to our own doors
the peril of a civil war was laid, and it gives a reality to
the memento of the times preserved in this Chartist
spear. RICHARD OLIVER HESLOP.
(Svfftttf Hufte iJuftrrlffd at
ilHEN the allied sovereigns visited England
after the overthrow of Napoleon, Alexander
I., the Emperor of Russia, was accompanied
by his brother Nicholas, afterwards destined to become
Emperor himself. The Grand Duke Nicholas (for such
was his then rank), anxious to see something of the
method of working coals in this country, came down
to the North to acquire the knowledge he needed.
Among the prominent people to whom he was furnished
with letter? of introduction was the Rev. Dr. Gray, then
Rector of Bishopwearmouth, afterwards Bishop of Bris-
tol. Dr. Gray introduced him to Dr. Clanny, showed him
the bridge over the Wear, and entertained him to
lunch in the Rectory. Subsequently, the Grand Duke,
in company with his suite, which consisted of Sir William
Congreve, the inventor of the Congreve rocket, and
some half dozen Russian noblemen in military uniform,
set out for Newcastle. Here he visited the Royal
Jubilee School, through which he was shown by the
Rev. William Turner, the celebrated Unitarian minister.
Here likewise he inspected, with much curiosity and
interest, several beautiful specimens of wood engraving
laid before him by Mr. Thomas Bewick. The Grand
Duke was invited by the Mayor (Sir Thomas Burdon) to
partake of the hospitalities of the town, but these were
courteously declined on the plea of other engagements.
Afterwards he paid a visit to Alnwick Castle.
The "illustrious stranger" arrived at Wallsend on
December 16, 1816. Mr. John Buddie, the viewer of the
colliery, had received instructions to show his Highness
all that was to be seen, both above and below ground,
and make him fully acquainted with the mode of winning
and working the coal, ventilating the pits, &c. He was
taken to Mr. Buddie's residence, which was situated
in the immediate vicinity of the principal pit ; and there
he was politely asked to take off his glittering uniform
and orders, and put on the dress worn by a deputy-over-
man, consisting of thick flannel trousers and a jacket of
the same. This metamorphosis he accordingly under-
went, and was then escorted to the mouth of the pit
down which he was to be lowered.
As almost all our readers doubtless know, the pits are
round holes, of about 10 feet in diameter, sunk into the
earth to the depth in some cases of 300 fathoms, nearly
one-third of a mile, and divided by a wooden partition or
brattice the whole way down, so as to form two shafts,
one known as the upcast and the other the downcast.
Before the general adoption of Fourdrinier's apparatus,
the mode of descending a shaft was either by entering a
large basket or corve used for hauling up the coals, or by
putting one leg through a large iron hook at the end of
the rope and clinging by the hands to the chain to which
it was appended. The latter mode, contrary to what
might be imagined, was the best and safest, and for this
reason, that the basket was liable to catch the sides of the
pit, and be thus turned upside down. Each person was
provided with a short stick to keep himself from grazing
the black and dripping walls as he proceeded downwards,
and the rapidity of the descent was such as to render this
precaution highly expedient.
Wallsend pit was at that period in the full enjoyment
of its fame as sending up the finest coals in the world, and
on this account it had been selected to give the Russian
prince the best possible idea of what a coal pit was like,
and how it was worked so profitably as to nett its owners
an annual income of fifty or sixty thousand pounds.
There were no coal mines of any consequence then
in Russia, and Nicholas had never seen one in his
life. What idea he had formed in his own mind
of a coal pit it is impossible to say ; but it is to be pre-
sumed that he had either thought little about the matter
or been very wrongly informed on the subject. For when
Mr. Buddie escorted him up the ladder leading to the
platform of the pit-mouth, and introduced him to the
scene of operations, he stopped suddenly short, and
asked with alarm whether that was really the place to
which he had been recommended to come. Upon being
assured that such was actually the case, he went forward
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
151
to the very edge of the pit, and attempted to look down
into the Tartarean abyss, up which a blinding smoke was
rising ; then, stepping precipitately back, and holdincr up
his hands in horrified amazement, he exclaimed in
French, "Ah! my God, it is the mouth of hell! — none
but a madman would venture into it ! " After uttering
these words, he hastily retreated, made his way back to
Mr. Buddie's house, and there, slipping off his coarse,
vulgar flannels as quickly as he could, again assumed his
splendid uniform of a Russian general, with the badges
of half the military orders in Europe hung about him.
Then, without a minute's delay, he left Wallsend Colliery
far behind him, never to attempt the exploration of
another coal mine.
(JAMES HOGG, the Ettrick Shepherd, though
not a native of the district, was more
familiar with every part of the Border
country south of the Cheviots than any person to the
manner born. His capital story of "The Long Pack,"
which is re-printed in the Monthly Chronicle, vol. i., p.
250, is enough to entitle him to rank among the literary
lions of Northumberland. Hogg was in the habit of
singing the following song to the tune of "The Laird o'
Cockpen, " when on a visit to his friends in Reedsdale : —
O the de'il's in the lasses, they taigle us sae,
They're sweet as the hawthorn— they're sour as the slae ;
Though their souls seem as pure as the down on the swan,
They would gan to auld Nick for a gallant young man.
There were three bonny lasses that wonn'd in a glen,
They wanted for naething but gallant young men ;
They had gowd in their coffers, and dwelt in a ha',
But they'd nae ane to lie between them and the wa'.
Now the brown leaves were strewn upon Otterburn lea,
And the robin was pourin' his plaint fra the tree ;
And the wood flowers that late were sae blopmin'and gay,
Drooped lowly and breathed their sweet spirits away,
While these three dainty dames sat alone in their ha',
Wi' their cheek on their hand, like arose 'mang the snaw ;
O there's fifty braw fallows would hae mounted and run
Had they ken'd what thae lasses were thinkin' upon.
Then out spoke wee Annie, the youngest of a' —
Like the dew frae young rosebuds her accents did fa' —
" Charlie says that he loves me, but does na he ken
That I've seen the bud blossom these aught years and ten?"
Then Marion whisper'd— I ne'er could tell what,
Twas something 'bout Sandy, the Laird o' Dunlat ;
And Jean shook down a shower o' loose ringlets like gowd,
And said Robin was free, baith to them and the snood.*
Thae lasses were mad each to hae a gudeman,
Their aiths they hae pledged— they hae plighted their
hand,
They have trysted to meet at the mirk hour o' twar,
And to learn the hail truth— tho' they wrench'd it frae
hell!
They met, and their deevilish cantrips they tried,
Wi' each a lang rowan treet wand by her side ;
* The snood, or snudge, was a fillet or ribbon, the wearing of
which was the mark of maidenhood.
t The rowan, roun, roan, or royne-tree, the mountain ash, was
believed to be a sure preservative against witchcraft
They shiver'd, and summon'd the spirits below
To say gin they e'er sud be wedded or no.
When, dreadfu" to sing o', three demons appear,
Wi' a black hairy hide frae their hoof to their ear,
And a tail playin' plisk their rough hurdies between,
As deevils o' credit hae always been seen !
" We ken what ye're seekin'," ae deevil did say,
But Jeanie and Annie had clean swarf'd away,
When twa o' the demons sprang out wi' a yell,
And caught the poor things to their breasts ere they fell.
O wha ever heard o' sic deevils as mine ?
They leapt frae their hides in a moment o' time ;
Each mounted his bride on a braw mettled steed,
And awa' for the Border at top o' their speed.
Now at Gretna thae damies awoke the next morn,
What had passed in the mirk hours I never could learn ;
But when Phcebus keek'd into their chamber, he saw
That they'd somebody laid between them an' the wa' !
Castlt.
j]MMORTALISED by Scott in the stirring
rhythm of "Marmion," depicted with
wondrous beauty and effect by Turner's
magic touch, and filling many a page of
history with all the charm of romance, "Norham's
castled steep," as it stands beetling over "Tweed's fair
river broad and deep," is an ideal scene of the Borderland.
Its stern, embattled front tells the story of much strife
and trouble, and still we see the " loophole grates " where
captives were wont to weep ; but times have changed
since the real Marmion with his golden helm rode
single-handed into a throng of hostile Scots, "all
for the love of his ladye." Norham was then
deemed " the daungerest place in England " ; it is now a
peaceful pastoral scene, and, under the softening hand of
Time, the old keep attracts no more attention than as a
monument of a martial period.
Even since Turner painted his famous picture of
"Norham Castle," in which in imagination we can
see the turrets shining "in yellow lustre," the aspect of
the keep has altered, for trees are gradually spreading up
the slope of the hill, and, viewed from the Village
Cross, half a mile away, the square tower is half
hidden by its umbrageous robes. Into one of the
flanking walls, too, a gardener's cottage has been
built, and visitors from far and near— by road, rail,
or river — can bear testimony to the excellence of the
gardener's fruit, and the choice flavour of his goodwife's
tea, when served in the romantic shelter of the Marmion
Arch. Through this archway, it is supposed, Sir William
Marmion rode full tilt at his enemies ; and through this
archway also, in ascending the hill, the visitor obtains a
pretty glimpse in perspective of the keep within. Our
view given in the larger illustration — taken from a water-
colour drawing by Mr. C. X. Sykes— is that selected by
Landseer for his painting of the Castle, his standpoint
being on a mound a little to the right of the Marmion
152
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
Arch. The smaller illustration presents the southern
view of the keep, and the door to be seen at the bottom
of the building affords access to the dungeon.
The Castle grounds are now kept with great care.
Thanks to the artistic taste of Mr. H. E. H. Jerningham
— Mrs. Jerningham, of Longridge Towers, being the
proprietrix — rustic gates have been fixed in various por-
tions of the ruins, and advantage has been taken of an
outstanding portion of the works on the northern side to
erect a grassy platform which commands a view of
th» interior of the keep as well as of the valley
of the Tweed. In the gardener's cottage will be
found a visitors' book, which bears many notable
signatures, including the caligraphy of Count
Herbert von Bismarck and M. Gambetta. The
latter, however, wrote an assumed name. Mr. Jerning-
ham, we need hardly say, is the author of the most reliable
work to be had on Norham Castle. The book, which also
deals with early Christianity in the North, is written in a
graceful and picturesque style, and is published in a
tasteful form by Mr. William Paterson, of Edinburgh.
Camden describes the Castle as having " an outer wall
of great compass, with many little towers in the angle
next the river, and, within, another circular wall much
stronger, in the centre whereof rises a loftier tower."
Part of the ruins have been undermined by the
river, and little remains except the great keep
tower, 70ft. high, and the double gateway, which led to
the bridge over the ancient moat, now a green hollow.
The Castle was originally built by Ralph Flambard in
1121, but was taken and partially destroyed by David,
King of Scots, in 1138. It was subsequently restored by
Bishop Pudsey, who built the great tower in 1154. King '
John had three conferences here with William the Lion of
Scotland — one in 1203, another in 1209, and yet another
two years later. That in 1209 was respecting a castle
at Tweedmouth, which John had twice tried to build,
and William had as often pulled down ; and at the
meeting in 1211 peace was ratified by the interven-
tion of Queen Ermengard of Scotland. In 1215 King
John besieged Norham to revenge the homage paid
by the Northumbrian barons to Alexander of Scotland ;
but, being unsuccessful, he was obliged to raise the siege
in 40 days. In 1286 Edward I. met the Scottish noblea
at Norham, and afterwards called a parliament at
Upsetlington, on the other side of the Tweed, to settle
his claims to the throne of Scotland. John Baliol swore
fealty in Norham. In 1318 the Castle, then governed by
Sir Thomas Gray, was besieged by the Scots, but without
effect, in spite of two forts which they raised against it
at Norham and Upsetlington. In 1322 it was taken by
the Scots, but retaken by Edward after a ten days' siege.
On the night of Edward III. 'a coronation, the Scots
again besieged it, and took it in the following year. In
CastU from Thi WcsT. SK-r^-^-Jv—S—SL— -_---rr-_-J^-.^ r--~~~-~-.~-^-—^=~~==^:~~-
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
153
1355 it was again taken and plundered. In the time of
Henry VII. it was besieged, but was relieved by Fox,
Bishop of Durham, and the Earl of Surrey. It was
finally assaulted just before the battle of Flodden Field,
and was taken through the advice of a traitor, who urged
the Scots to descend from Ladykirk Bank to Gin Haugh,
a flat ground by the river, and thence to throw down the
north-east corner of the wall with their cannon : —
So when the Scots the walls had won,
And rifled every nook and place.
The traitor came to the king anon,
But for reward met with disgrace.
"Therefore for this thy traitorous trick
Thou shalt be tried in a trice ;
Hangman," therefore quoth he, "be quick ;
The groom shall have no better price."
—Ballad oj Flodden.
In 1603 Bishop Mathew devised the Castle to the
Crown. Dr. George Carleton, the biographer of Bernard
Gilpin, was born here, while his father was keeper of the
Castle. "It were a wonderful processe," says Leland,
" to declare what mischefes cam by hungre and asseges
by the space of eleven yeres in Northumbreiand ; for the
Scottes became so proude after they got Berwick, that
they nothing esteemid the Enelischmen. "
An incident occurred at Norham which was not only
woven by Bishop Percy into his ballad of the " Hermit of
Warkworth," but also, perhaps, guided Sir Walter Scott
in the choice of Marmion as his hero. Leland tells that
in the time of Edward II. a great feast was made in
Lincolnshire, at which a maiden brought a helm of gold
to Sir William Marmion, "with a letter of commaunde-
ment of her lady, that he should go into the daungerest
place in England, and there let his heualme to be aeene
and knowne as famous." " So," continues Leland, "he
went to Norham, whither, withyn four dayes of cumming,
cam Philip Moubray, Gardian of Berwike, having in his
band 140 men of armes, the very flowr of men of the
Scottisch marches. Thomas Gray, Capitayne of Norham,
seying this, brought his garison afore the bariers of the
castel, behynd whom cam William Marmion, richely
arrayed, as all glittering in golde, and wearing the
heualme as his lady's present. Then said T. Gray to
Marmion, ' Sir Knight, ye be cum hither to fame your
heualme : mount upon yor horse, and ride like a valiant
man to yon army, even here at hand, and I forsake God
if I rescue not thy body, deade or alyve, or I myself wyl
dye for it.' Whereupon he took his cursore, and rode
among the throng of enemyes : the which layd sore stripes
on him, and pullid hym at the last oute of his sadel to the
ground. Then T. Gray, with the whole garrison, lette
pryk yn emong the Scottes, and so wonded them and
their horses that they were overthrowen, and Marmion,
sore beten, was horsid agayn, and with Gray perseuid
the Scottes in chase. There was taken 50 horses of price ;
and the women of Norham brought them to the footemen
to follow the chase."
Though several villas have sprung up of late, the village
of Norham consists chiefly of a single wide street, with a
green, in the centre of which stands a queer pyramidal
cross. It was anciently called Ubbanford, and, being the
capital of the district of Norhamshire, was the place
where the bishops of Durham exercised justice and held
their exchequer. The Culdees, missionaries from lona,
are said to have first preached the gospel in Northumber-
land in this place. Gospatrick, Earl of Northumberland,
died here, and was buried in the church porch.
A church was built here by Egfrid, Bishop of Lindis-
farue, and dedicated to St. Peter, St. Cuthbert, ind St.
Ceolwulf, and hither Egfrid caused the remains of the
Royal Ceolwulf (to whom Bede dedicated his church
history) to be brought from Lindisfarne. Ceolwulf's feast
was kept with much solemnity, and the country people
used to come on that day to make offerings at his shrine.
The feast of the translation of St. Cuthbert's body was
also observed here with great splendour on the first
Sunday and Monday after the 4th of September. A
stone discovered in Norham bears the effigies of
St. Peter, Cuthbert, and Ceolwulf. The present Church of
St. Cuthbert is a handsome building, having a massive
tower, with Norman zigzag arches. It was modernized
1846-52, and restored at the instance of the Rev. Canon
Waite about five years ago. The nave has a Norman
arcade of five bays. The church is Norman, but the east
end is Early Decorated. It contains the figure of a knight
under a bold Decorated canopy ; also the effigy by Lough
11857) of a former rector, Dr. Gilly, author of the " His-
tory of the Waldenses." The stained glass is by Ballan-
tine. The church had formerly three chantries, and pos-
sessed the privilege of 37 days' sanctuary.
There is a pleasant walk by the riverside. On the oppo-
154
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
site bank are the woods of Ladykirk, with the church,
dedicated by Jamea IV. to the Virgin in gratitude for
having been preserved from drowning in a dangerous
passage of the Tweed.
j]R. THOMAS SOPWITH, M.A., F.R.S., was
born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, on January 3rd,
1803, his father being a large cabinetmaker
and joiner in the town. To this trade he was first
apprenticed ; but the bent of his mind was altogether in
the direction of literary and scientific pursuits, and he
soon gave up the practical part of his father's business.
When he had finished his apprenticeship, he left the
cabinetmaker's bench, and studied land and mining sur-
veying under Mr. Dickinson at Alston Moor. In these
branches he became so competent and useful that Mr.
Dickinson took him into partnership. He remained at
Alston four years, and prepared, in conjunction with his
partner, all the plans and sections of the lead mines in
Alston belonging to the Greenwich Hospital. About the
same time, also, he was employed in similar work for
the Corporation of Newcastle and others. He found
time, too, to publish an account with plans of the interior
of All Saints' Church, Newcastle-on-Tyne. The etched
plans and sections of the great Hudgill Burn Lead Mine,
having been seen by the learned Dr. Buckland, professor
of geology, led to an intimacy between the two gentlemen
which ended only with the doctor's death. It was during
his residence at Alston that he made the friendship of
Mr. Hugh Lee Pattinson. Mr. Sopwith, though still a
young man, was now beginning to make a reputation in
the profession he had adopted ; and in 1830 we find him
established in Newcastle as a civil and mining engineer,
where he soon formed an excellent and lucrative business.
Amongst other important matters, he surveyed and
levelled a new road between Newcastle and Otterburn,
and he began to be consulted by many of the leading
county gentry on matters affecting their estates. In
1832, Mr. Sopwith entered upon offices in the then newly-
built Royal Arcade, where he continued until the year
1845, in which year he received the valuable appointment
of agent to the W.B. Lead Mines of Northumberland
and Durham.
During the thirteen years preceding his entrance upon
this most important post, Mr. Sopwith was concerned in
very many great undertakings. He made and prepared
sections and surveys of the Forest of Dean, and showed the
beds of coal and workings therein, afterwards reporting to
the Woods and Forests Department of the Government.
He was also occupied professionally with many great rail-
ways—the Newcastle and Berwick, London and Brighton,
Newcastle and Carlisle, and the Sambre and Mouse in
Belgium; likewise with works connected with the im-
provement of the River Tyne, &c. Whilst thus
engaged he could scarcely help coming in contact
with many eminent engineers, and he thus formed
friendships with Brunei, Rendel, Buddie, the Ste-
phensons, Nicholas Wood, and several other gentle-
men of position in the engineering and scientific
world. Besides these, he numbered among his intimate
friends such men as Professors Sedgwick and Faraday,
Sir Roderick Murchison, the Brothers Chambers, of
Edinburgh, and indeed nearly all the more celebrated
men of science of the last fifty years. When the British
Association first met in Newcastle in 1838, Mr. Sopwith
contributed no less than six papers on various subjects ;
and on the second visit, in 1863, he was one of the
secretaries of the Geological Section, besides contributing
papers.
For the first years of his appointment as Mr.
Beaumont's agent, Mr. Sopwith resided at Allenheads,
taking great interest in the welfare of his workpeople,
and especially in the education of the children. About
1857, he went to reside in London, and in the year 1871
he resigned the office of chief-agent of the W.B. Mines,
which he had held for the long period of 26 years. He at
the same time retired from the engineering profession, in
which he had been engaged for fully half-a-century.
^-J
The many honours Mr. Sopwith gained in science and
art must not be forgotten. He was a Fellow of the
Royal Society, a Fellow of the Society of Arts, and a
member of the Institute of Civil Engineers. His largest
work, that on "Isometrical Drawing," went through
several editions. "An Account of the Mining Districts
of Alston Moor, Weardale, and Teesdale," had also a
large sale. He was a frequent contributor to newspapers
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
155
and magazines, and wrote several educational works,
books of travel, &e.
Mr. Sopwith died at his residence in London, 16th
January, 1879, aged 76 years. Up to within a short time
of his death, he had always enjoyed the best of health. A
writer to whom we have been much indebted for a great
deal of the information here given says of him : — "With
his natural flow of high spirits, conversational powers, and
well-stored and retentive memory, he was a genial com-
panion and a good friend, and will be long remembered
with feelings of satisfaction by those whose advantage it
was to have the pleasure of his acquaintance." The
same authority gives us this interesting piece of informa-
tion : — "He was a ready and precise writer, as is proved
by his journal, which consists of 168 volumes, containing
descriptions of places and people, and numerous and
amusing pen and ink sketches, which would do credit to
a professional artist. This journal was begun when he
was eighteen years of age, and continued to within a fort-
night of his death, a period of fifty-eight years."
ililltllt.-uir SFntrft, C0b«tatttn-
atttr JFxvnuv.
JIT is simply a record of history that James
I. of England, his son, and his two grand-
sons, laboured assiduously to overturn the
Presbyterian government of the Scottish
Church. Charles II., when he had sought refuge with
the Scots, signed the famous Covenant which bound all
subscribers to defend the true religion, to oppose all
errors and corruptions, to unite for the defence of the
king and his authority, and for the preservation
of the religion, laws, and liberty of his kingdom.
But, with that want of sincerity which was a prominent
feature of the Stuart kings, he used to observe that
" Presbyteriauism was not a religion for a gentleman."
The religious persecution which ensued as a natural result
of the king's determination to establish Episcopacy by
force led to a-serious insurrection. The people, following
their own pastors, celebrated divine worship in the fields
or glens of their native country ; while, on the other side,
severe penalties were enacted against all who attended
these meetings or conventicles.
Many ministers, distinguished for real courage and
sincere piety, sacrificed their interests to their religious
principles ; and amongst the most persecuted of these
was William Veitch, the subject of this sketch. His
father, John Veitch, was minister of Roberton, near
Lanark, for 45 years, and William was born there in
1640. John, the second son, was'minister of Westruther,
in Berwickshire, for 54 years; James was ordained
minister of Mauchline in 1656 ; and David was minister
of Govan.
William took his degrees at Glasgow University in 1650.
Owing to appearances that Episcopacy was apparently
to be the established religion of the kingdom, he resolved
to pursue the practice of physic. This, however, he was
dissuaded from following, through the advice of Mr.
Livingstone, minister of Ancrum, who, showing the great
esteem in which his brothers were held in the Church,
besought him to follow in their steps. In 1663 he became
chaplain to Sir Hugh Campbell, of Calder, in Moray-
shire, but was forced to leave about September, 1664,
for, according to law, none were permitted to be
chaplains in families, to teach any public school,
or to be tutors to the children of persons of quality
without the license of the Episcopal Bishop of the
diocese. He, therefore, returned home to his father, who
had been ejected from his living, and had taken up his
residence at Lanark, and while staying under the parental
roof he became acquainted with Marion Fairlie (born
1638), whom he made his wife in November, 1664.
Scarcely had two years of married life passed over their
heads when the first blast of persecution fell upon them.
He was persuaded by the Rev. John Welch, minister of
Irongray, to join that party of Covenanters which, after
having raised 1,500 men, fell upon Sir James Turner's
western forces, and made their commander prisoner.
Their spirits having by this enterprise been con-
siderably elevated, the Covenanters resolved to march
on to Edinburgh for the purpose of obtaining
reinforcements and provisions. From Bathgate they
went to Collington, where Veitch, who was a
daring man, was selected to enter Edinburgh to
consult with Sir James Stuart respecting the assistance
and supplies they stood so much in need of. He was
captured and conveyed to Lord Kingston. Policy
prompted him to offer himself as a volunteer in King-
ston's front rank to march against the Covenanters, and
thus he found an opportunity to escape. Not easily
turned from his purpose, he now entered the city, where
his errand proved fruitless, and, after being nearly cap-
tured by Dalziel's horse, he returned to Collington.
An encounter in which the Covenanters were defeated
by Dalziel took place on Wednesday, the 28th November,
1666, at Rullion Green, near the Pentland Hills, and here
Veitch had another narrow escape from being captured.
Falling in with a company of the enemy's horse, he was
carried along with them — they not knowing who he was.
While descending a hill he made his escape, and found
refuge in a shepherd's cottage on Dunsyre Common, not
far from his own house. Here he remained in hiding
for some days, when he managed to escape to Newcastle,
where he took the name of William Johnstone.
At Newcastle he contracted a dangerous illness, after
recovering from which he returned at great risk to Scot-
land to see his wife, whom he advised to retire to Edin-
burgh, in order to avoid the annoyance she was subjected
to by the soldiery who were in quest of him. During
156
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
this visit to the West Hills of Dunsyre, he had another
narrow escape, but contrived to return safely to New-
castle.
Proceeding soon afterwards to London, he preached
frequently there, and was on one occasion only saved
from an exasperated audience by the intervention of
Colonel Blood, of crown-jewel fame. He returned to
Northumberland and settled at Fallowlees, in Rothbury
parish, in 1671. Here he combined farming with his
religious labours ; and, indeed, it was absolutely neces-
sary that something should be done for the support of his
family, as the fifth child made its appearance on the
19th of July, 1672.
The persecution he suffered here induced him to retire
to Harnham Hall, where many attended his preach-
ings. The mansion house of Major Eabington was given
him as a residence, and part of it was used as a place of
worship. The township of Harnham is about one and a
half miles south-west of Bolam, in which parish it is
situated. The village stands on the summit of a huge
sandstone ridge, which in ancient times was crowned by
a small fort. The manor was held in capite by Bernard
de Babingtou in 1272, but the antiquity of this family in
Britain may be traced back as far as the Conquest. Major
Philip Babington was owner of the estate during Veitch's
residence there. His wife, Catherine, was the widow of
Colonel George Fenwick, of Brinkburn, some time
Governor of Berwick-on-Tweed, and eldest daughter of
Sir Arthur Heselrigg, of Nosely, in Leicestershire. On
her death at Harnham, which took place some time after
June, 1670, she was refused Christian burial, because she
had died under sentence of excommunication for not
giving due regard to ecclesiastical rule. This uncharit-
able treatment perhaps embittered the soul of Major
Babington against Episcopacy, and may, in a great
measure, explain the hospitality he displayed towards
the persecuted Covenanter.
Veitch was, however, not suffered even here to reside
in peace, for the clergy persuaded one Justice Lorraine,
of the Kirkharle family, to issue warrants for his appre-
hension. Previous to putting this into effect, the justice
broke his leg in a drunken fit, and was deterred from his
purpose. For four years Veitch resided at Harnham
Hall, but, the estate having fallen into other hands
through the death of his patron, the new landlord refused
to continue Veitch as a tenant.
Pvemoving now to Stanton Hall, in Longhorsley parish,
in May, 1676, he fell under more persecution, especially
from Thomas Bell— a Scotchman — who had been educated
out of charity by the brother of Veitch. This ungrateful
countryman now occupied the curacy of Allinton, and,
in revenge for an affront put upon him by the minister of
Westruther, he omitted no chance of destroying the
prospects of William Veitch, until, at his instigation,
Major Oglethorpe apprehended Veitch on Sunday,
January 19, 1679, and carried him prisoner to the town
of Morpeth, where he was detained twelve days.
During the eleventh day of his imprisonment he wrote a
letter to his wife, stating amid the few comforting assur-
ances he could (rive her, that an order from Council com-
manded him to proceed to Edinburgh for examination as
to his alleged misdemeanours. On receipt of this letter
his heroic wife set out with a man-servant through a
storm of snow, for perhaps a last look on her hus-
band, and had but a short interview with him before the
drums summoned the guard which was to escort him to
Edinburgh. The townspeople in Morpeth, Alnwick,
Belford, and Berwick, we are told, " from curiosity ran
after him to gaze."
On the fifth day after Veitch left Morpeth, Thomas
Bell met his death in a peculiar manner. He had
been at Newcastle, and called at the residence of the
curate of Ponteland while on his road home. The
night was dark, the river Pont was swollen, yet
Bell was not to be turned from his resolve to reach
Allinton that night. Two days afterwards he was found,
shoulder deep, frozen in the river Pont, his boots and
gloves much cut by struggling in the ice.
The examination of Veitch took place before the Council
on February 22, and, although nothing criminal could
be proven against him, he was kept in prison. Shortly
afterwards an order came from the king ordering him to be
handed over to the Criminal Court which met in July,
in order that sentence of death upon the old charge of
treason might be passed upon him. Through influence at
Court, he obtained his liberation, with banishment into
England.
For some time afterwards he continued to conduct ser-
vices through the western parts of Northumberland. In
December, 1681, he was at Berwick, but the town was in
great uproar through the news of the Earl of Argyle's
escape from Edinburgh Castle, and Veitch deemed it ad-
visable to retire to Bowsden, near Lowick, where lived
his friend Luke Ogle, the ejected minister of Berwick.
While there he dreamed that his house at Stanton Hall
was on fire, and awoke in great consternation, with
the resolve to go home in the morning. Falling
asleep, he dreamed the same again ; and so im-
pressed was he that all at home was not right, that
he immediately set off. When within two miles of his
own house he was met by his man-servant, who told him
that search had been made for him for two days, as a
stranger had made his appearance seeking shelter. The
stranger was Argyle !
After consultation with Argyle, the two set off for Lon-
don, the earl travelling as Mr. Hope. They reached
Millburn Grange, eleven miles north-west of Newcastle,
where Veitch was to preach that Sabbath, and on
the Monday they proceeded to a friend's house near
Newburn, where Veitch left Argyle in order to go to
Newcastle, where he bought three horses for the journey
at his own expense. After reaching London, Argyle went
April 1
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
157
to join Monmouth and other friends in Holland, where
they were shortly afterwards joined by Veitch himself,
who was " wanted " in England for the share he had
taken in Argyle's escape.
The English and Scotch refugees in Holland, having
received offers of support from England and Scotland,
determined to attempt the overthrow of the Government
of James II., and, for this purpose, the Duke of Mon-
mouth was to invade England, while the Earl of Argyle
landed in Scotland. Veitch was deputed by the refugees
to instruct their friends on the borders of England and
Scotland of their intentions ; but he was obliged to hide
in the Reedsdale district till after the execution of Mon-
mouth and Argyle, whose scheme had utterly failed. In
a wood near Newcastle, he remained in concealment for
some time, and then ventured into the town to see his
wife, who had removed thither.
Veitch's career until the king's indemnity was pub-
lished was full of narrow escapes. He then ministered
at Beverley for a short time ; but, receiving a call to
Peebles, he preached there from September, 1690, to 1694-,
when he removed to Dumfries. Here he continued to
minister till his death, which occurred May 8, 1722, at
the age of eighty-two. The partner of all his joys and
sorrows, the mother of his five sons and five daughters,
died the day before him, aged eighty-four years. They
had been married fifty-eight years, and were both in-
terred in the same grave in the old church at Dumfries.
E. J. WILSON.
jjNE of the few spas in the county of Durham—
that of Dinsdale-on-Tees — reaches the cen-
tenary of its existence this year. It was
quite by accident that the spa was first discovered.
Some workmen were excavating in search of coal in
1789. When at a depth of 72 feet in the whinstone rock,
they came upon a spring, which burst forth with a strong
smell of sulphur, accompanied with a great deal of
smoke. This unexpected flow of water, as might be
expected, compelled the men to relinquish their boring
operations. However, they dug a hole in the channel
made by the rushing water, so as to form a sort of bath —
a very primitive one as we may easily imagine. Never-
theless, it answered its purpose, and the bath was, down
to 1797, greatly appreciated by the neighbouring
villagers. Then a bathing house was constructed for the
use of visitors, the majority of whom lodged in the
village of Middleton near at hand.
When it became known that sulphur water was good
for rheumatic complaints and similar maladies, the fame
of Dinsdale soon spread throughout the district. The
first to receive relief in this respect was a man who, it is
said, had been afflicted for many years with chronic
rheumatism. After judiciously drinking the water from
the spring, and using the bath, he began gradually to get
renewed power in his limbs, and, finally, was completely
restored. So we are told.
The claims of the sulphur spring at Dinsdale were
brought to the notice of the general public at the beginning
of the present century by Dr. John Peacock, of Darlington,
and Dr. Thomas Walker, of Hurworth. Dr. Peacock,
who published his Observations in 1805, thought that
the sulphur water was most beneficial in chronic affections,
particularly of a rheumatic and dyspeptic character,
diseases of the liver and spleen, and "a whole host of
cutaneous disorders."
Although, however, Dinsdale Spa has many advan
tages, very few people visit the place now. Indeed, it
was more appreciated half a century ago than it is at the
present day, notwithstanding the apparent inclination of
well-to-do folks to seek rest and quietness in the vicinity
of sulphur springs.
An interesting article in Diet and Hygiene gives
some information anent the village of Dinsdale itself,
including the owners of the estate. From this periodical
we make the following extract : — " Very extensive
Roman remains have been unearthed in the imme-
diate vicinity of the manor house, and it is not
improbable that, nearly eighteen centuries ago, Roman
warriors availed themselves of the facilities for bathing in
the water derived from the Dinsdale sulphur springs. At
the side of the road leading toward the manor house,
there is an ancient elm tree, said to be 700 years old,
the survivor of two which formerly stood in that position,
known as the Abbot's elms. The church of Dinsdale
is very ancient, and has of late years undergone com-
plete restoration. The church and lands connected with
it were given by one Ralph Surtees and his wife to
provide lights for the altar of St. Cuthbert. The manor
and estate of Dinsdale are still in the hands of the
Surtees family, who have been connected with Dinsdale
since the Norman period. The family name is itself
derived from the banks of the river on which the estate
is situated. In old chronicles, we find the name of
Ralph Dittensdale, also described in the bad Latin of
that date as Ralph de Super-Teysam— Ralph of On-Tees ;
otherwise, in Norman French, Surteys, which has
become modernised into Surtees."
Dinsdale Hall, which was erected fifty years ago, or
thereabouts, by the first Earl of Durham, at a cost of
£35,000, is a large mansion, and was formerly used as
an hotel, when it numbered among its distinguished
patrons the Duke of Wellington and the Baroness
Burdett Coutts.
An amusing story, printed in the magazine quoted
above, shows the effect of the sulphur vapour upon
metals, especially gold and silver. A gentleman, so
the story runs, divesting himself of his clothing for the
158
MONTHL Y CHRONICLE.
f April
purpose of taking a sulphur bath, hung his silver watch
on a peg in the bath-room of the Spa Hotel. After
dressing, he went away in the direction of his lodgings,
but, discovering that he had left his watch behind,
quickly retraced his steps. Upon the attendant fetching
the watch and chain from the bath-room, the gentleman
indignantly declared thaf they were not his property,
strongly asserting that his were made of silver. It was
only when he was shown the maker's name on the watch,
and the uncommon pattern of the chain attached to it,
that he could be convinced of his error. E. W. A.
Jptrcettf at
/lortl)ttmberlanb jstmt ant) ttjs
JORTHUMBERLAXD STREET is, prac-
tically, a continuation of Pilgrim Street ;
but the difference in the name is easily
^^-" enough accounted for when we remember
tliat the ancient Gate (figured in vol. ii., page 81) frowned
equally on both in former days. We take our start from
the point where the old Gate once stood.
And first we are detained for a moment on our left
hand by Northumberland Court. This small court has
little to stay our progress to-day ; and yet it has its item
of interest all the same. Some thirty-seven years ago,
one William Glover occupied the upper room in a tene-
ment house here. He missed articles from his room, and
these disappearances waxed frequent. So he devised a
plan by which all unauthorised intrusion on his premises
should be stopped for the future. And this was his plan.
He obtained a large horse-pistol, loaded it with slugs, and
then attached the trigger to the door of his room in
such a way that anyone entering would cause the pistol
to explode, not, of course, to the intruder's benefit. But
how did he protect himself ? Well, he was able to (tain
admission safely enough by previously pulling a string
which passed through the frame of the door. Unfor-
tunately, on the evening of December 6th, 1852, he
entered his guarded room without observing this neces-
sary precaution. Result : the pistol went off, and its
contents killed him instantaneously.
On the same side of the way is Brunswick Place, at the
end of which is the Wesleyan Chapel of that name.
This building may be considered the headquarters of the
Wesleyan body in Newcastle. It was opened for public
service in February, 1821, when the preachers were the
Revs. Messrs. Newton, Atherton, and Wood. Its ex-
terior is plain even to barrenness ; its interior commo-
dious enough to accommodate two thousand persons.
Some notable men have held forth here now and again.
Dr. Morley Punshon won his rhetorical spurs in his
early years as a stationed -minister in Newcastle, and in
after years few towns were visited by him with greater
pleasure. Other Presidents of the Wesleyan Conference
besides Dr. Punshon have occupied the pulpit of Bruns-
wick Place. More than once the Conference itself has
met in Newcastle. One of these meetings was held in
the summer of 1840, when Robert Newton was president,
and Dr. Hannah secretary. Two Ashantee princes were
present on that occasion ; but the local interest attaching
to this particular meeting comes to this, that Mr. H. P.
Parker, one of the foremost local artists of his day, pre-
sented the body with a large picture representing the
rescue of Wesley from the fire of his father's rectory.
The painting was afterwards engraved, and became
widely known.
Passing on, let us pause for a moment at the Orphan
House Wesleyan School. The stranger may note the
date on che front of the building — 1857. Right : and
wrong. Right, for it was in that year that the schools of
to-day were opened for educational purposes. But wrong
in this wise : they stand on the site of the old Orphan House
founded by John Wesley, the foundation stone of which
he laid on the 20th December, 1742. (Monthly Chronicle,
vol. ii., pages 504, 570.) The Methodists occupied this
building until Brunswick Place Chapel was finished.
On this same side of the street we come, next to Mack-
ford's Entry, so named after its builder. Across the road
is a small, quiet place, called Lisle Street, and then, a
little higher up, we come to Saville Row, so named in
honour of Sir George Saville, Baronet, who, during the
years 1776 and 1777, resided here as colonel of the West
York Militia. Ellison Place is a continuation of this
street ; and here we find the modern Mansion House —
more precisely, the Judges' Lodgings at assize time.
Singleton House we arrive at next, formerly the resi-
dence of the Rev. Richard Clayton, by virtue of his
position as Master of the Mary Magdalen Hospital ; sub-
sequently occupied by Sir John Fife ; then transformed
into an academy ; and now the photographic studio of
Mr. Lydell Sawyer, and the centre of a series of tem-
porary shops.
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
159
We are now opposite Prudhoe Street. On that side of
the street, a step takes us to the doors of the Victoria
Blind Asylum. Pause we a moment here, for a more
deserving charitable institution there is not in Newcastle ;
and that, remember, is saying a good deal. Victoria ?
Why the name? The explanation is simple enough.
The Asylum was built in honour of the Queen's corona-
tion, in lieu of squandering money over illuminations and
the like ; and surely none can say that our city fathers were
wrong in that idea. The determination to establish an
James's Chapel, St. George's Hall, Cambridge Hall,
and the College of Medicine.
St George's Hall has been erected for the purposes of
local volunteers, as has also its neighbour, Cambridge
Hall.
Dame Allan's charity is attached to the parishes of St.
Nicholas and St. John. The school was founded by
Eleanor Allan, of Newcastle, who, in 1705, assigned for
its support a farmhold and tenant-right in Wallsend
parish. The farm, held of the Dean and Chapter of
institution of this sort was formed in the month of Feb-
ruary, 1838 ; bufr in the first instance premises were
obtained in the Spital, whence the establishment was
removed to the existing building in 1841. Behind the
asylum there was once a Bowling Green, after the Forth
had disappeared.
Across the road, again, we have Bath Road, so named
by reason of its association with the Northumberland
Baths. These baths owe their origin to a meeting con-
vened on November 3, 1836, by the Mayor (Mr. C. J.
Bigge), whereat Dr. Head lam and others supported the
proposal that a lease should be obtained of about twelve
acres of ground lying to the north of Saville Row, and
that a company to consist of three hundred shareholders,
at £20 each, should be established for carrying out the
undertaking. The proposal was warmly taken up, and
on June 24, 1839, the baths were formally opened. They
were built from a design by Mr. Dobson, and the cost
of their erection and fitting up was nearly £8,000.
Contiguous to the baths was a once rather favourite
cricket ground, now the site of Dame Allan's Schools, St.
Durham, contained about 131 acres ; and when first
assigned it brought in an annual rental of £61 19s. 5d.
In 1708 this good lady died ; and in the next year the
school was opened in trust for forty boys and twenty girls,
the parishioners agreeing to subscribe annually for the
clothing of the scholars. Other donations towards in-
creasing the benefits of the charity came in afterwards.
In 1723, Gilbert Campel, "innholder," left it £20, and
Samuel Nicholas, organist, £10. Mrs. Chisholm, a clergy-
man's widow, of Wooler, contributed £500 later on ;
and in 1733, Mrs. Elizabeth Rogers, of Newcastle, left it
£50. In 1738, £250 was left by John Hewitt, or Huet,
goldsmith, also of Newcastle. A good, sound, useful
education is understood to be given to the scholars of
Dame Allan's School. The new building is ornamented
with a medallion of the benevolent founder.
A view of the College of Medicine, the foundation stone
of which was laid by the Duke of Northumberland on
November 5, 1887, appears on page 46, vol. ii.
St. James's Chapel, a spacious building, has sometimes
been called by its supporters the Cathedral of theCongre-
gationalists of the North. We have spoken of this body
when dealing with Blackett Street, and need not repeat
the story here.
We may now return to Northumberland Street by way
of Ridley Place, a quiet street running parallel to Bath
Road. Of Ridley Place there is nothing particular to be
said, save that it was built by one Mr. Grey, and by that
Mr. Maskford whose name we have already found asso-
ciated with an entry a little way from the present spot.
Next to Ridley Place is Vine Lane, at the end of which
stand St. Thomas's Schools. Some good work has been
160
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
I Ap
1 •&
done here. Amongst old scholars in the boys' depart-
ment may be mentioned Mr. J. J. Pace, the borough
treasurer of Newcastle ; Mr. Ralph Willoughby, the
energetic superintendent of the Ragged and Industrial
Schools in the New Road; Mr. T. Albion Alderson,
organist and composer : the late Mr. William Mitche-
son, for many years the head master of St. Andrew's
School ; Mr. Andrew Beat, long the Workhouse school-
master ; and others that might easily be named. These
were all pupils of the late Mr. Henry Page, for more than
twenty years the master of the boys' school, and a self-
made mau. Commencing life as a working joiner, he
became a certificated master by dint of hard private
study. Even his recreations were intellectual. He took
to the solution of mathematical posers as the duck takes
to water ; in a game of chess he was a formidable oppo-
nent ; and music was the solace of his lighter moments.
He ended his days in Newcastle as the pensioned ex-
master of the Victoria Blind Asylum. At St. Thomas's
School he was succeeded by Mr. John Coulson, another
self-made man, who from St. Thomas's went to Durham
University, with the object of entering the ministry of the
Church of England. In due course he was ordained ; he
was further successful enough to win the prize of a fellow-
ship of his University, and became afterwards the vicar of
Holy Trinity, South Shields.
We are now nearly at the end of Northumberland
Street, so far as our right hand is concerned. We are
quite at the end of it when we come to St. Mary's Place.
But before quitting it for good, let us record one
of its traditions. Seventy years ago, one Alexander
Adams, who lived in Northumberland Street, bequeathed
a fortune amassed in commerce to his natural son, then a
resident in India. The devisee soon after died in Cal-
cutta, a bachelor, and left all he had to his cousin,
Thomas Naters, who was set-
tled in New York, in the
United States. In October,
1836, Naters died in Switzer-
land, and left his fortune,
amounting to between £200,000
and £300,000, to a respectable
builder in Newcastle, named
William Mather. The Swiss
authorities were very loth to
part with it, and claimed
£50,000 as legacy duty. The
British Government remonstra-
ted, arguing that Naters was not
a naturalised subject of Switzer-
land. The controversy went on
for some time; but eventually
the claim was settled by Mather
consenting to pay the Swiss
£12,000.
One more note we ought to
make also, namely, that the houses terminating the
north-west side of Northumberland Street were for-
merly called Pedlar, or Pether Row, as having been
built by one who laid the foundation of his fortune by
hawking or peddling.
Before us we have now the beautiful church of St.
Thomas the Martyr. An old chapel of the same name
stood for nearly six hundred years at the Newcastle end
of Tyne Bridge. In the ninth year of the reign of James
I. (June 12, 1611), this old foundation was, by Royal
Charter, annexed to another venerable institution — the
Leper Hospital, dedicated to St. Mary Magdalen. The
time came when the ancient chapel, obstructing the traffic
over the Bridge and blocking up the end of the Sandhill,
had to be removed. It was pulled down, and in 1829 the
present edifice, from designs by Mr. John Dobson, was
erected in the Magdalen Field — the place whereon the
Magdalen Hospital formerly stood. Our drawing, which
originally appeared in Richardson's "Table Book," repre-
sents the church as it appeared about 1840. The ministers
of St. Thomas's are Masters of the Hospital. One of the
most popular of them was the Rev. Richard Clayton, and
at his death, in 1856, it was considered that the time had
come when the institution should be re-organized. Many
were the heartburnings and squabbles over the matter,
and needless is it to recall them now. Suffice it that a
majority of the Corporation appointed as Mr. Clayton's
successor the Rev. Clement Moody, Vicar of Newcastle,
on the understanding that he was to accept such altera-
tions in the constitution of the charity as might be
adopted. The minority wanted an investigation into the
state of the hospital by the Charity Commissioners ; the
congregation desired the appointment of the Rev. T. D.
Halsted, Mr. Clayton's assistant, whose Evangelicalism
had made him popular. A split was the result of the
ST. THOMAS'S CHURCH, NEWCASTLK-ON-TTNE, 18W.
April 1
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
161
appointment, with the consequence that the Clayton
Memorial (now usually called Jesmond) Church was
built by the dissatisfied members.
ILantBtmr
JlAMBTON CASTLE, the seat of the Earl of
Durham, situate upon an imposing eminence
rising boldly on the north bank of the Wear,
about two miles from Chester-le-Street, in the county of
Durham, occupies the site of Harraton Hall, formerly the
seat of the D'Arcys. The original building was in the
style of a manor house of the date of 1600. Considerable
additions have since been made. The exterior presents a
singular mixture of styles, the north front being Norman,
and the other parts of the building, including the original
portion, being Tudor and castellated, with ornamental
turrets and embrasures. A terrace wall of considerable
length and height faces the south. The whole is of varied
outline, and produces, with its flag tower, an imposing
and picturesque effect.
The principal part of the interior has been fitted up in
the Italian style. The drawing-room, library, and other
apartments are richly decorated, whilst the walls are
adorned with the choicest specimens of ancient and
modern art. Many of the more important pictures were
on view at the Newcastle Exhibition in 1887. Amongst
these were a portrait of Lady Hamilton, by Sir Joshua
Reynolds ; a portrait of Master Lambton, by Sir Thomas
Lawrence, P.R.A. ; and portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Gar
rick, by J. Zoffany, R.A.
In 1854, the greatest fear and alarm were entertained
as to the safety of this costly and magnificent mansion.
The coal underneath the site of the building was ex-
tracted as early as 1600. The old mode of working coal
was by narrow drifts, leaving small pillars to support the
roof, and these were sufficient at the time to bear the
weight of the building above : but the upper seams, it
appears, had only a covering of fire-clay, which, in course
of time, decomposed. This, together with the additional
weight put upon the surface by the enlargement of the
mansion, caused the building, in 1854, to crack and shrink
in several parts, rendering it unsafe and dangerous as a
residence. Mr. John Dobson, the well-known architect
of Newcastle, was consulted upon the subject. He im-
mediately introduced iron ties, so as to prevent the
building from further separating. The mines under-
neath were examined, and the old workings filled up with
LAMBTON CASTLE, DURHAM.
11
162
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
solid brickwork. These and other precautions have been
found effectual, and the mansion was afterwards put into
complete repair.
We are greatly indebted to Dr. Robert Hogg, proprietor
of the Journal of Horticulture, for the loan of the en-
graving of Lambton Castle.
at Jtftarfe
atttf
?n JUcijarb SiEelfort.
THE FIRST "MINING ENGINEER."
JOHN BUDDLE was born at Kyo, near
Tanfield, in the Durham coalfield, in the
year 1773. His father was a schoolmaster of
repute, a contributor to the Diaries, a corres-
pondent of Emerson, Hutton, and other eminent mathe-
maticians, and the editor and annotatorof a reprint of the
Marquis of Worcester's " Century of Inventions," with an
appendix "containing an historical account of the fire
engine for raising water.'' Living amongst men whose
chief pursuits were the winning and working of coal, the
elder Buddie became intimately acquainted with the
business. His colliery friends, most of whom worked
largely by " rule of thumb," found him of great assistance
in making their calculations, and thus he obtained a
knowledge of colliery operations which was afterwards
instrumental in raising him from the humble position of a
village dominie to the more exalted post of colliery
manager. His first appointment in that capacity was at
Greenside, near Ryton ; his next and last at Wallsend.
Buddie the elder died in 1806, and Buddie the younger,
having been his father's assistant for several years, was
unanimously appointed to the management of Wallsend
Colliery. He was then upwards of thirty years old, had
acquired considerable reputation, and was regarded as the
most promising viewer in the North-Country. He made
experiments and introduced improvements at which the
old viewers in the district shook their heads, as old men
always do when an innovator appears. But the un-
doubted success of his schemes extorted from them an
unwilling recognition of his wisdom, and admiration of
hi? skill. The owners of Wallsend allowed him free
scope for the exercise of his ingenuity, and he rewarded
them by making their colliery the most successful in the
kingdom.
One of his first improvements was the substitution of
cast iron tubbing in shafts for the old and inefficient
protection of wood. The heavy expense, and the fear
that iron tubbing could not be made water-tight, or, if
tight, that it would soon wear away by oxidisation, had
deterred the old viewers from using it ; but Mr. Buddie
and his father adopted the metal, and it answered their
fullest anticipations. There was one drawback to its
usefulness, however, which had to be overcome. The
tubbing was cast in large circular bands the size of the
shaft, and these banda were naturally of great weight,
and therefore difficult to deal with. To remedy this
defect Mr. Buddie suggested that the bands should be
cast in segments, and fitted together in the shaft. The
segments were tried and succeeded admirably. When
placed in position and properly wedged, they formed an
irresistible barrier to the passage of water.
In 1809 Mr. Buddie successfully wrought out an idea
to which he had devoted much anxious thought. His
practical mind had long chafed at the difficulties ex-
perienced in effecting thorough ventilation. He had
experimented in vain with steam, with heated cylinders,
and with the air pump, and now he turned his attention
to the furnace system, seeking to increase its efficiency
and minimise its dangers. Combined with this object
was another, namely, to prevent the loss of coal involved
in leaving huge pillars to support superincumbent strata,
and to stop the " creeps, " with their attendant crushing
and breakage, which followed attempts to reduce the size
of the pillars. He, therefore, divided the workings into
districts or panels, separated from each other by ribs or
barriers of solid coal, and ventilated by distinct currents
of air. By this means coal was obtained whole, the area
of waste to be aired and travelled was reduced, "creeps,"
were seen in time and stopped, accidental fires were
localised, and the workmen were supplied with purer air,
and thereby rendered less liable to disease, disablement,
and death.
Mr. Buddie contributed in no small degree to the
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
163
introduction and perfecting of the safety lamp. He had
had sad experience of the want of such an invention at
Wallsend, where, between the years 1782 and 1803, there
were no fewer than eight explosions, in which, altogether,
thirty-five persons lost their lives. At other collieries,
too, his services had been frequently called into requisition
by accidents of a similar nature. Year after year the
holocaust of the mine destroyed its victims, till 1812,
when public attention was roused into action by a
disastrous explosion at Felling Colliery, in which ninety-
two persons lost their lives. Out of that calamity rose a
"Society for Preventing Accidents in Coal Mines." Six-
teen days after the association was established, Mr.
Buddie indited a letter to Sir Ralph Milbanke, the
president, explaining the systems of ventilation then in
operation, asserting that the limit of mechanical agency
towards preventing explosions had been attained, and
declaring that it was to scientific men only that the trade
and the community must look for assistance in providing
a cheap and effectual remedy. Before the month was
out, Dr. Clanny, of Sunderland, had invented a "safety
lamp," and exhibited it to the society. In less than two
years from the publication of Mr. Buddie's letter the
inventions of Sir Humphre}- Davy and George Stephenran
were made known, and the objects of the society were
accomplished. Sir Humphrey was in constant communi-
cation with Mr. Buddie while his experiments on the
nature and properties of flame were in progress; and
when his lamp had been tested in some of the most fiery
mines of the Northern coal-field, it was to Mr. Buddie's
hands that Sir Humphrey committed it, as the best
medium of making its benefits known to the mining
community.
Mr. Buddie was one of the first, if not the first, coal-
viewer in the North of England who made any noticeable
addition to the literature of the coal trade. He was a
lucid and careful writer, and his pen made the driest
details attractive. When th« Natural History Society of
Newcastle was founded, Mr. Buddie was one of its
principal supporters, and to the proceedings of that
learned body he contributed several valuable papers.
One of the best of them is a "Synopsis of the Newcastle
Coalfield," written in 1830. On the visit of the British
Association to Newcastle, in 1838, Mr. Buddie read a
similar but extended paper, the sections and ingenious
model accompanying which were deposited in the New-
castle Museum. •
The importance of preserving mining records was
earnestly advocated by Mr. Buddie throughout his career.
He read an essay on this subject to the local Natural
History Society in 1834, brought the question before the
members of the British Association assembled in New-
• castle, and n:ade out so good a case that Parliament
authorised the establishment of the present Mining
Record Office, and the- Crown appointed him one of the
commissioners under the Dean Forest Mining Act.
The fan-.e of Mr. Buddie's achievements led to his being
employed largely as a consulting viewer. The third Mar-
quis of Londonderry rested entirely upon his judgment in
the management of his vast mineral property. It was he
who advised the marquis to make a seaport town on his
own estate, in order to facilitate the exportation of his
coals. On the 28th of November, 1828, his lordship laid
the foundation stone of the docks, with which the under-
taking was commenced ; and close by, his son, Lord
Seaham, performed a similar ceremony at the first house
of a town to be called Seaham Harbour. Beneath the
dock stone was deposited a plate bearing an inscription,
which, amongst other things, stated that "in this under-
taking the founder has been chiefly advised by the tried
experience and indefatigable industry of his valued friend
and agent, John Buddie, Esq., of Wallsend."
As an employer Mr. Buddie was very popular amongst
the pitmen. He paid the highest wages in the trade, and
was liberal in his assistance to old pit acquaintances and
deserving objects of charity. When an accident occurred
he descended the pit with the men, sharing their hard-
ships and encouraging them in their exertions. He
made great efforts to establish a fund to provide for the
widows and orphans of those who lost their lives in
collieries, and for the support of such as were maimed
and disabled, but did not succeed in realising the project.
The education of the colliery population was also an
object of his constant care. He contributed largely to the
support of schools in the villages attached to the pits
placed under his supervision, and was instrumental in
in inducing other coalowners or agents to follow his
example.
In politics Mr. Buddie was a Liberal — a supporter of
Earl Grey and the Reformers. His religious views were
of the same advanced character. He was a member of
the Unitarian congregation which worshipped in Hanover
Square under the personal superintendence of the Rev.
William Turner,, as were most of the leaders of thought
and opinion in Newcastle at, that time. But his sym-
pathies and his charities were not limited to this or
that particular denomination. He gave to all freely,
judiciously, and without ostentation. When his useful
and laborious life came somewhat suddenly to an end
(October 10th, 1843) it was in a churchyard which he had
himself presented to the suburb of Benwell that his
remains were buried.
Mr. Buddie was a magistrate, and commander of the
Wallsend Rifle Corps, enrolled on the 1st June, 1803, and
numbering 151 men. He died unmarried, and left no one
to inherit his name. But the inheritance of his example,
of his energy, his skill, and his boundless enterprise,
descending to men who caught their early inspirations at
his feet, has exalted the practice of mine engineering to
the foremost rank among scientific avocations. Whenever
the history of the Northumberland and Durham Coal
Trade shall be written by a qualified penman, a high
164
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
April
place must be assigned to the man who, converting the
old colliery viewer into the mining engineer, minimised .
the hazard of subterranean exploration, and introduced
comparative certainty and safety into the great mineral
industry of the United Kingdom.
A correspondent enables us to add to the foregoing
sketch a statement that Mr. Buddie, in his youth, was
an ardent student of the violin ; but, as his duties in the
mines increased, he gave it up, preferring to work out
problems for the benefit of the miners to the gratification
of his own private pleasure. After twenty years' holiday
he tried his violin again, but found that his hand had lost
its cunning. He therefore adopted a larger instrument,
a contra, or double bass, founded a musical party of
amateur gentlemen, and kept them together for many
years. This was about 1825, and the society continued
until 1840. The gentlemen who formed the party
were Mr. Atkinson, his nephew ; Mr. John Cockrill,
solicitor ; Mr. Burnip, solicitor ; Dr. Paul Glenton, an
excellent player and judge of violins ; Mr. Barnett,
ilautiat ; Mr. Robert Elliott Huntley, of Earsdon j his
lirother, Dr. G. H. Huntley, of Howdon Lodge; and
Mr. W. S. B. Woolhouse, now living. At the sale of his
instruments, some thirty years ago, a beautiful Guarnerius
and a viola were not sold. The late Mr. Moses Pye was
the auctioneer, and he was most particular to have them
kept out of the sale. A beautiful instrument was bought
by Mr. McQuade, of Fellside. A Ruggerius, for which it
was said Mr. Buddie paid £170, fell to Mr. Thomas
Hudson, South Preston, North Shields. The contra or
double bass mentioned before has quite a history of its
own locally. It was either made by, or more probably
bought from, Mr. Corsby, of London, a celebrated maker
and dealer. It passed to the late Mr. Morland, musical
instrument dealer, Collingwood Street, Newcastle, whose
shop is now occupied by Mr. Preston, hia successor. At
the sale of Mr. Morland's effects, the late Mr. Alfred
Fox, furrier, Northumberland Street, secured it, and it is
now ably performed upon, nightly, by Mr. Robert
Preston, in the orchestra of the Theatre Royal, Newcastle.
'pnlnter,
FOUNDER OF "THE SHAKSPEAKE PRESS."
The establishment of the Shakspeare Press was unques-
tionably an honour, both to the founders in particular,
and to the public at large. Our greatest poet, our greatest
painter, and two of our most respectable publishers and
printers, were all embarked in one common white-hot
crucible ; from which issued so pure and brilliant a flame,
<»r fusion, that ic gladdened all eyes and hearts, and threw
a new and 
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